Today is China's traditional festival - Laba Festival. Because of regional cultural differences, although it is a traditional Chinese festival, there are always some different places in the South and North. For example, during the Spring Festival, dumplings are eaten in the north and dumplings are eaten in the South; On the Dragon Boat Festival, sweet zongzi is eaten in the north and salty zongzi is eaten in the south. So how do you spend Laba Festival in the north and south? What are the different customs of Laba Festival in the north and south? Let's talk about the differences between the north and the south of Laba Festival. What are the customs of Laba Festival in the north
Northerners attach great importance to Laba Festival. On this day, they should drink porridge, make garlic and eat Laba noodles!
The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the Laba Festival. The north is busy peeling garlic to make vinegar and eating Laba noodles and Laba porridge, but the south is quiet. Guangzhou people also had many festivals before the new year, such as the winter solstice and the 28th of the year, but Laba is rarely mentioned. Without the habit of this festival, Laba seems to be a typical northern Festival.
There is a saying in the north that "after Laba is the year", just as in the south, "December 23 - sacrificial stove enters the new year". After entering the twelfth lunar month in the north, the weather began to change significantly. Passing Laba means entering the new year. In ancient times, 'wax' and 'hunting' represented harvest throughout the year. When entering the new year, we should worship heaven and earth and pray for harvest in the coming year. In fact, the ceremony of "offering sacrifices to cookers" is the same as the meaning of "Laba" in the north, but the days are different.
What are the customs of Laba Festival in the north
1. Laba porridge
When it comes to the Laba Festival, probably the first thought in most people's minds is' drinking Laba porridge '. The real old Beijing custom began in the Qing Dynasty. Experts said that for the Laba Festival, almost all customs revolved around drinking Laba porridge, but the earliest Laba porridge was for the poor. "What the poor did not eat at the end of the year, they boiled the leftover rice cleaned by the pot cover and jar edge into porridge, slowly formed customs, and finally spread to the government, the court and temples.
2. Cured garlic
Soaking Laba garlic is a custom in North China, especially in North China. As the name suggests, it is to brew garlic on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. In fact, the material is very simple, that is, vinegar and garlic. The method is also very simple. Put the peeled garlic into a container such as a can or bottle, then pour vinegar, seal the mouth and put it in a cold place. Slowly, the garlic soaked in vinegar will turn green, and finally become green, like emerald.
3. Laba noodles
In some places where rice is not produced or less produced in northern China, people don't eat Laba porridge, but Laba noodles. The next day, make all kinds of fruits and vegetables into saozi, roll the noodles, and the whole family will eat Laba noodles on the morning of the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
4. Laba rice
The custom in Ningxia, Henan and other places is to eat Laba rice. Ningxia people usually cook Laba rice with lentils, soybeans, red beans, broad beans, black beans, rice and potatoes, plus' ears of wheat 'cut into diamond willow leaves with wheat flour or buckwheat flour, or' sparrow heads' made into small round eggs, and then add onion flower oil before coming out of the pot. On this day, the whole family only ate Laba rice, not vegetables. Laba rice in Henan is cooked with eight kinds of raw materials such as millet, mung bean, cowpea, wheat kernel, peanut, red jujube and corn. After cooking, add some brown sugar and walnut kernel. The porridge is thick and fragrant, implying a bumper harvest in the coming year.
What do you eat on Laba Festival in the south
Congee with Nuts and Dried Fruits
Jiangxi
Laba Festival is the first festival before the Spring Festival. Nanchang people regard 'Laba' as a prelude to the new year. From Laba, every family should prepare peanuts, melon seeds, pickled meat and buy new year goods. There is a folk saying that "after eating Laba porridge, look forward to the coming years".
"You don't have to pick it up on Laba day. It's a blessing and longevity brocade." Laba is also a traditional auspicious day in Nanchang. On this day, in addition to drinking Laba porridge, Nanchang people often hold "Laba marriage" such as engagement, daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law.
Hunan
On Laba Festival, temples make porridge with fragrant grain and fruit for Buddha, which is called Laba porridge, which is popular among the people. In addition to eating Laba porridge, Changsha and other places also make Laba beans, which has become one of the home dishes. On this day, the country often makes Laba rice with glutinous rice, bacon, red dates and walnuts. Laba beans are also the best made on this day.
Changsha also has' wax drums, spring grass'. The proverb "La encourages farmers to work hard", so the eighth day of December is commonly known as "La day". On this day, many people will worship their ancestors. They will worship their ancestors first and then distribute the cooked Laba porridge to their families. The leftover Laba porridge is also preserved for a few days, which bodes well for its "surplus every year".
Laba porridge in Changsha is generally sweet porridge, but the pickled Laba beans are basically salty. There is also the custom of Laba eating fermented bean curd and making fermented bean curd in southern Hunan and other places. In places such as Xinhua and Western Hunan, there is also the custom of beating drums on Laba Festival, which is called exorcising, which means expelling ghosts and avoiding epidemics.
Guangxi
In Daliu village, Longji Town, Longsheng Autonomous County, Guangxi, the local PanYao people have the custom of making Ciba on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The local Yao people soaked and steamed the glutinous rice raw materials, rammed them into mud in a stone trough, and then kneaded them into Ciba. Glutinous and delicious Ciba cakes are deeply loved by the local people.
Zhejiang
Zhejiang people usually cook Laba porridge with walnut kernel, pine nut kernel, lotus seed, red jujube, longan meat and litchi meat, which is sweet and delicious. It is said that this method of cooking porridge was spread from Nanjing.