Laba Congee and Local Laba Food Customs

In addition to worshipping ancestors and gods, people also have to expel epidemic diseases during the Laba Festival. This activity originated from the ancient Nuo (an ancient ritual to drive away ghosts and avoid epidemic diseases). Exorcising ghosts and curing diseases was one of the medical methods in prehistoric times. The custom of beating drums to drive away epidemic diseases in the twelfth lunar month as a witchcraft activity still exists in Xinhua, Hunan and other areas.

Laba Festival

On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, there is a custom of eating Laba porridge, which is also called seven treasures and five flavors porridge. The history of eating Laba porridge in my country has been more than a thousand years. It started as early as the Song Dynasty. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, whether it is the court, government offices, temples or ordinary people's homes, they all make Laba porridge. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of eating Laba porridge was even more popular. In the palace, the emperor, empress, princes, etc. would give Laba porridge to civil and military ministers, attendants and palace maids, and distribute rice and fruits to various temples for monks to eat. In the folk, every household also makes Laba porridge to worship their ancestors; at the same time, the family gathers together to eat it and give it to relatives and friends.

Laba Congee and Local Laba Food Customs

Varieties of Laba Congee in China

There are many varieties of Laba porridge, and the most exquisite ones are in Beijing. There are more items mixed in the white rice, such as red dates, lotus seeds, walnuts, chestnuts, almonds, pine nuts, longans, hazelnuts, grapes, ginkgo nuts, water chestnuts, green silk, roses, red beans, peanuts... a total of no less than 20 kinds. People start to get busy on the night of the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, washing rice, soaking fruits, peeling, removing cores, and carefully selecting them. Then they start to cook at midnight, and then stew them on a low fire until the next morning. Only then is the Laba porridge considered cooked. More particular families will first carve the fruits into human shapes, animals, and patterns, and then put them in the pot to cook.

More distinctive

The most popular way is to put a fruit lion in the Laba porridge. The fruit lion is a lion-shaped object made of several kinds of fruits. The lion's body is made of crisp dates with the pits removed and roasted, half a walnut kernel is used as the lion's head, peach kernels are used as the lion's feet, and sweet almonds are used as the lion's tail. Then stick them together with sugar and put them in the porridge bowl, just like a little lion. If the bowl is large, you can put two or four little lions. More exquisite is to use date paste, bean paste, yam, hawthorn cake and other foods with various colors to shape the eight immortals, the old longevity star, and the arhat. This kind of decorated Laba porridge can only be seen on the altars of large temples in the past.

After Laba porridge is cooked

First, you have to worship the gods and ancestors. Then you have to give it to relatives and friends, and it must be given out before noon. Finally, the whole family can eat it. If there is any leftover Laba porridge left after a few days of eating, it is a good omen, which means that there will be surplus every year. If you give the porridge to the poor, it will be a good omen for yourself. Laba porridge also has a witchcraft effect in the folk. If there are flowers and fruit trees planted in the yard, you should also smear some Laba porridge on the branches, believing that there will be more fruits in the next year. On this day of Laba, in addition to worshiping the ancestors and gods, people also mourn the fallen country and express their grief.

Laba porridge in different regions

The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is called Laba in folk customs. It is the first festival before the Spring Festival. After that, the "New Year flavor" becomes stronger. The custom of eating Laba porridge on Laba has a thousand years of history in my country and has a special origin.

According to legend, in the northern part of ancient India, which is today's southern Nepal, there was a king named Suddhodana in Kapilavastu. He had a son named Gautama Siddhartha. When he was young, he felt the various sufferings of birth, aging, illness and death in the world, found social life futile, and was extremely dissatisfied with the theocracy of Brahmanism. So, at the age of 29, he gave up the luxurious life of the royal family, became a monk, practiced yoga, and practiced asceticism for 6 years. Around 525 BC, one day, he was enlightened under a bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya and founded Buddhism. According to historical records, this day was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in China. Because he was a member of the Sakya clan, Buddhists later honored him as Sakyamuni, which means the saint of the Sakya clan. After Buddhism was introduced into my country, temples were built in various places, and the activity of cooking porridge to worship Buddha became popular. Especially on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the day of worshiping Sakyamuni's enlightenment, all temples would chant scriptures and imitate the legendary program of shepherdesses offering a kind of "milk" before the Buddha's enlightenment, cooking porridge to worship Buddha. This is the origin of Laba porridge.

Volume 6 of Dreams of the Southern Song Dynasty written by Wu Zimu states: "On the eighth day, temples call it 'Laba'. All large temples set up five-flavor porridge, called 'Laba porridge'." At this time, cooking porridge on Laba had become a folk custom, but the emperor at that time also used it to win over his ministers. Sun Guochi of the Yuan Dynasty wrote in the Records of the Tour of Yandu: "On the eighth day of December, porridge is given to all officials, which is made of rice and fruits. The one with more ingredients is the winner. This is probably based on the story of the Song Dynasty." The Yongle Encyclopedia records that "On the eighth day of this month, Zen masters call it Laba Day, and cook porridge with sutras and rice to feed the monks." In the Qing Dynasty, in the third year of Yongzheng (1725 AD), Emperor Shizong converted the mansion east of the Imperial College in Andingmen, Beijing, into the Lama Temple. On the eighth day of the eighth day of the eighth day of the eighth month, Laba porridge was cooked in pots in Wanfu Pavilion and other places in the palace, and Lama monks were invited to chant sutras. The porridge was then distributed to the ministers of the royal palace to taste and eat to celebrate the festival. The Guangxu Shuntian Prefecture Chronicle also says: "On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year, the Yonghe official cooks porridge, which is custom-made and supervised by ministers, and is served as a meal." Laba porridge is also called "seven treasure porridge" and "five flavor porridge". The earliest Laba porridge was cooked with red beans, and then evolved and added with local characteristics, gradually becoming rich and colorful. Zhou Mi, a literati in the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote in "Wulin Jiushi": "Porridge made with walnuts, pine nuts, milk tan, persimmon, chestnuts, etc. is called Laba porridge." Fu Cha Dunchong, a Qing Dynasty scholar, said in "Yanjing Sui Shi Ji" that "Laba porridge is made with yellow rice, white rice, glutinous rice, millet, water chestnut rice, chestnuts, peeled jujube paste, etc., cooked with water, and dyed with red peach kernels, almonds, melon seeds, peanuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, white sugar, brown sugar, and grapes for coloring", which is quite characteristic of Beijing.

Tianjin People

Tianjin people cook Laba porridge in a similar way to Beijing. Some of the more particular ones also add lotus seeds, lilies, pearl rice, millet, barley kernel, glutinous sorghum rice, glutinous yellow rice, kidney beans, mung beans, longan pulp, longan pulp, ginkgo, red dates and sweet osmanthus in syrup, etc., which are all good in color, fragrance and taste. In recent years, black rice has also been added. This kind of Laba porridge can be used for diet therapy, which has the effects of strengthening the spleen, appetizing, replenishing qi, calming the nerves, clearing the heart and nourishing blood.

Shanxi People

Shanxi Laba porridge, also known as eight-treasure porridge, is mainly made of millet, with additional cowpeas, red beans, mung beans, jujubes, sticky yellow rice, rice, glutinous rice, etc. In the southeastern part of Shanxi, on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, red beans, cowpeas, sweet potatoes, peanuts, glutinous rice, and dried persimmons are cooked with water. It is also called sweet rice and is one of the food customs.

Northern Shaanxi Plateau

On the Laba Festival, in addition to using a variety of rice and beans, porridge must also be mixed with various dried fruits, tofu and meat. It is usually cooked in the morning, and can be sweet or salty, depending on the taste. If it is eaten at noon, some noodles should be cooked in the porridge, and the whole family will reunite and eat together. After eating, the porridge should be spread on the door, the stove and the trees outside the door to ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters, and welcome the next year's agricultural harvest. According to folk legend, it is taboo to eat vegetables on Laba Day, saying that eating vegetables will cause weeds in the fields. People in southern Shaanxi eat mixed porridge on Laba Day, which is divided into "five flavors" and "eight flavors". The former is cooked with rice, glutinous rice, peanuts, ginkgo and beans. The latter uses the above five ingredients plus diced meat, tofu, radish, and seasonings. On Laba Day, in addition to eating Laba porridge, people also use porridge to worship their ancestors and granaries.

Gansu people

Traditionally, Laba porridge is made with grains and vegetables. After it is cooked, it is not only eaten by the family, but also distributed to neighbors and used to feed livestock. In the urban areas of Lanzhou and Baiyin, Laba porridge is cooked very carefully, using rice, beans, red dates, ginkgo, lotus seeds, raisins, dried apricots, dried melons, walnut kernels, green and red silk, white sugar, diced meat, etc. After it is cooked, it is first used to worship the door gods, kitchen gods, earth gods, and gods of wealth, praying for good weather and good harvests in the coming year; then it is distributed to relatives and neighbors, and finally the whole family enjoys it. In Wuwei, Gansu, "vegetarian Laba" is celebrated, eating thick rice, lentil rice or thick rice, and after cooking, it is eaten with fried sanzi and twisted dough sticks. The folk custom calls it "lentil porridge with sanzi".

Ningxia people

Ningxia people usually cook Laba rice with lentils, soybeans, red beans, broad beans, black beans, rice, and potatoes, and add wheat ears cut into diamond-shaped willow leaves or small round eggs, and add chopped green onion oil before serving. The whole family only eats Laba rice on this day, and no vegetables.

Qinghai People

Although most of the people in Xining, Qinghai are Han Chinese, they do not eat porridge on Laba Festival, but wheat kernel rice. They cook the newly milled wheat kernel with beef and mutton, add green salt, ginger peel, pepper, grass fruit, and other condiments, and simmer overnight. The meat and wheat blend into a milky state. When the pot is opened in the morning, the aroma is fragrant and delicious.

Shandong people

In the Shandong "Confucius Mansion Food System", it is stipulated that there are two types of "Laba Congee". One is made by boiling rice kernels, longan, lotus seeds, lily, chestnut, red dates, and glutinous rice. Some "congee fruit" is added to the bowl, which is mainly fruits carved into various shapes for decoration. This kind of porridge is exclusively for the owner of the Confucius Mansion and the owners of the twelve mansions. The other is made by boiling rice, meat slices, cabbage, tofu, etc., and is for the servants in the Confucius Mansion.

Henan People

Henan people eat Laba rice, which is cooked with eight kinds of ingredients including millet, mung beans, cowpeas, wheat kernels, peanuts, red dates, and corn. After it is cooked, some brown sugar and walnut kernels are added. The porridge is thick and fragrant, which symbolizes a good harvest in the coming year.

Jiangsu region

There are two types of Laba porridge: sweet and salty. The cooking methods are the same. The only difference is that vegetables and oil are added to the salty porridge. Suzhou people add water chestnuts, walnut kernels, pine nuts, Euryale ferox, red dates, chestnuts, fungus, vegetables, enoki mushrooms, etc. to the Laba porridge. Li Fu, a Suzhou scholar in the Qing Dynasty, once wrote a poem: "The porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month was passed down from the Kingdom of Brahma. The seven treasures are blended and the five flavors are mixed in."

Zhejiang People

Zhejiang people usually use walnut kernels, pine nut kernels, Euryale ferox, lotus seeds, red dates, longan meat, lychee meat, etc. to make Laba porridge, which is sweet and delicious. People eat it to pray for longevity. It is said that this method of cooking porridge was passed down from Nanjing, which contains several legends.

Sichuanese

Sichuan is a large country with a large population. Laba porridge is made in many ways, including sweet, salty, spicy, and hot. Rural people prefer salty porridge, which is mainly made of soybeans, peanuts, diced meat, white radish, and carrots. Foreigners come here to taste it, and although they follow the local customs, it is difficult to get used to it. Nowadays, many urban people also eat sweet porridge, which has different flavors. Laba and porridge are closely related, and drinking porridge on Laba can be regarded as a variety of ways to drink and a high level of drinking.

Chinese people love Laba porridge so much

In addition to the custom of eating, there are indeed some scientific reasons. The Qing Dynasty nutritionist Cao Yanshan wrote "Porridge Recipe", which explains the health and nutritional functions of Laba porridge in detail and clearly. It regulates nutrition and is easy to absorb. It is a good "diet therapy" product. It has the functions of harmonizing the stomach, nourishing the spleen, nourishing the heart, clearing the lungs, benefiting the kidneys, benefiting the liver, quenching thirst, improving eyesight, relieving constipation, and calming the nerves. These have been confirmed by modern medicine. For the elderly, Laba porridge is also a beneficial delicacy, but you should also be careful not to drink too much. In fact, it is not just Laba, but drinking porridge on weekdays is also very beneficial to the elderly. There are also quite a lot of varieties of porridge, which can vary from person to person, and can be selected according to needs and consumed as appropriate.