Laba Festival folklore stories

 

Laba Festival folklore stories

There are many folklore stories about the Laba Festival, which shows that people attach great importance to the Laba Festival.

 

Shepherdess saves Buddha

 

Legend has it that Laba porridge came from India.

The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, was originally the son of King Suddhodana of Kapilavastu in ancient northern India (now in Nepal). Seeing that all living beings were suffering from birth, old age, illness, and death, he was dissatisfied with the theocratic rule of Brahmins at that time, so he gave up his throne and became a monk to practice Taoism. There was no harvest at first, but after six years of asceticism, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, he enlightened and became a Buddha under the bodhi tree.

During these six years of asceticism, he only ate one hemp and one meter a day.

One day, Buddha Sakyamuni left the palace to practice, but after practicing hard for many years, he achieved nothing. He wanted to take a bath in the river to clear his mind, but after bathing, he was too weak to crawl back to the shore.

At this time, a shepherd girl, Suyada (meaning Good Life), pulled him ashore and gave him a bowl of porridge made of rice, chestnuts, etc. After eating, the Buddha became energetic and came to the bodhi tree to awaken. This day happens to be the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Buddhist disciples regard porridge as a good medicine. The temple offers porridge to the Buddha on Laba day every year and gives it to the world.

Later generations will not forget his suffering and eat porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year as a commemoration. "Laba" has become the "Anniversary of Buddha's Enlightenment". Affected by this, our country's folk gradually formed the custom of eating Laba porridge.

"Laba" is a grand Buddhist festival.

Before liberation, Buddhist temples in various places held Buddha bathing meetings, chanted sutras, and imitated the legend of the shepherdess offering chyle before Sakyamuni became enlightened, using fragrant grains,

The fruits and other fruits are cooked into porridge and offered to the Buddha, which is called "Laba porridge". He gave Laba porridge to his disciples and faithful men and women, and it became a custom among the people.

It is said that before the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, in some temples, monks hold alms bowls and go alms along the streets, cooking rice, chestnuts, dates, nuts and other materials collected to make Laba porridge and distribute it to the poor. Legend has it that after eating it, you can get blessings from the Buddha, so the poor call it "Buddha porridge".

Lu You's poem in the Southern Song Dynasty goes: "Nowadays, Buddhas feed each other more porridge, while Juejiang Village keeps new things." It is said that there is a "restaurant" for storing leftovers in Tianning Temple, a famous temple in Hangzhou. Normally, the monks dry the leftovers in the sun every day and accumulate a The surplus grain of the new year is cooked into Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month and distributed to believers, which is called "Fushou porridge". "Fushou porridge" means that after eating it, you can increase your happiness and longevity. It can be seen that the monks in the temples at that time cherished the virtue of food.

 

Red bean fights ghosts

 

Legend has it that the Laba Festival comes from the custom of "fighting ghosts with red beans".

Zhuanxu, one of the Five Ancient Emperors, had three sons who turned into evil spirits after their deaths and came out to frighten their children. In ancient times, people generally believed in superstition and were afraid of ghosts and gods. They believed that strokes and poor health in adults and children were caused by epidemics and ghosts.

How to deal with these evil spirits? Evil ghosts are not afraid of heaven or earth, they are only afraid of red beans. After the people heard about it, they used "red beans to fight ghosts". The way to fight ghosts is to cook porridge with red beans and adzuki beans on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to ward off epidemics and welcome good luck.

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The Great Wall of Qin and Laba Porridge

 

When Qin Shihuang built the Great Wall, migrant workers from all over the world came under the orders. They could not go home for many years and had to rely on their families to send them food. Some migrant workers live thousands of miles away from their homes and cannot get food delivered to them. As a result, many migrant workers starved to death at the Great Wall construction site.

One year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the migrant workers ran out of food. They rummaged through the food bags and gathered together the beans, rice and other grains they collected. They accumulated a few handfuls of whole grains and put them in a pot to make gruel. The man only drank one bowl, and eventually he starved to death under the Great Wall.

In order to mourn the migrant workers who starved to death at the Great Wall construction site, people eat "Laba porridge" every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month as a commemoration.

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Yue Jiajun and Qianjia Porridge

 

The Laba Festival originates from people's memory of their loyal minister Yue Fei. At that time, Yue Fei led his troops to fight against the Jin Dynasty in Zhuxian Town. It was the severe winter of the ninth month. The Yue family army was suffering from lack of food and clothing, and was starving and freezing. People sent porridge to the Yue family army one after another. The Yue family army had a full meal of "Qianjia porridge" sent by the people, and the result was great. Return victoriously. This day is the eighth day of December. After Yue Fei's death, in order to commemorate him, people cooked porridge with grains, beans and fruits every eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, which finally became a custom.

 

Zhu Yuanzhang named "Laba porridge"

 

There is also a legend that the Laba Festival originated in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.

It is said that when Zhu Yuanzhang was suffering in prison, it was a cold day, cold and hungry, and he dug out some seven or eight kinds of whole grains such as red beans, rice, and red dates from the mouse hole in the prison.

Zhu Yuanzhang cooked these things into porridge. Because it was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yuanzhang nicknamed this pot of multi-grain porridge "Laba porridge".

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang brought peace to the world and became emperor from the north to the south. In order to commemorate that special day in prison, he designated this day as the "Laba Festival" and officially named the whole grain porridge he ate that day "Laba Porridge".

 

Lazy man and lazy woman

 

In the early days, there was a farmer's family, where the old couple only had one son. The old man was a hard-working man. He spent all day in the fields, went out early and came back late, and cultivated intensively. The several acres of farmland he cultivated produced bumper crops every year. My wife is a diligent and frugal person. She has a well-maintained melon shed covering the sky in the yard, a garden with vegetables on the floor, and three meals a day. She budgets carefully. Although her family is not wealthy, she has enough food and clothing all year round. The old couple are not only industrious and frugal, but also kind-hearted. They often help others with rice and grain to tide over their difficulties.

Time flies like an arrow, and the sun and moon fly like a shuttle. In the blink of an eye, their son was already 17 or 18 years old. Although the eldest boy is tall, thick and strong, unlike his parents, he is surprisingly lazy. This is because she has been pampered since she was a child, opening her mouth and stretching out her hands. When I grew up, I still ate and slept, wandered around and did nothing.

One day, the old man touched his gray beard and felt that he was getting old. He said to his son: "My parents can only raise you when you are young, but they cannot raise you when you are old. If you want to eat, you have to sweat. You should learn to grow crops in the future."

The son hummed twice, going in one ear and out the other, and continued to wander around, eating and sleeping.

Soon, the old couple married their son a wife. I thought that after my son got married, the young couple would have to figure out how to work together to live a happy life. Unexpectedly, this daughter-in-law, like her son, also loves to eat and is lazy at work. She never goes to bed until the sun goes down and rises at three o'clock in the morning. She doesn't move her needle or thread, doesn't go into the kitchen, and doesn't help her when she pours an oil bottle.

One day, the old man combed his white hair and knew that the soil was buried up to his neck, so he told his daughter-in-law: "Diligence is a money tree, frugality is a cornucopia. If you want to live a good life, diligence and thrift are a treasure." The daughter-in-law said These words fell on deaf ears, and I didn't take a word of it into my heart.

A few years later, the old couple was seriously ill and bedridden. They called the young couple to the bedside and told them repeatedly: "If you want to live a prosperous life, the rooster crows three times before leaving the bed. Men should work hard, and women should work hard." Weave more cloth..." Before he could finish his words, the old couple passed away together.

The young couple asked the villagers to bury the two old people and look at the grain vats and rice in the storage and the cotton boxes and clothes in the cupboards.

The lazy man said: "You don't have to worry about eating and drinking. Why go to the ground to bask in the sun."

The lazy woman said: "If you have single clothes in summer and cotton in winter, why bother spinning until the sun is shining?"

The young couple sang together and had long forgotten the wills of the two old men.

Year after year passed, and several acres of fields became weed gardens. The daily supply of firewood, rice, oil, salt, clothes, quilts, shoes and socks at home is less and less. The young couple were not in a hurry. As long as there is someone who stutters, I will be too lazy to do anything.

Flowers are blooming and falling again, autumn is passing and winter is coming. There is no harvest from the fields, and the family has run out of food and clothing. The young couple stopped talking, and the neighbors, for the sake of the deceased old man, gave the east family a bun and the west family a bowl of soup. The young couple were still thinking: "Begging for food can also pass the time."

Entering the twelfth lunar month, the weather is getting colder and colder. On the eighth day of the lunar month, it was freezing cold and the dripping water turned into ice. As the saying goes: "It's the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month and the eighth lunar month of the twelfth lunar month, the 'beggars' will freeze to death." There was no fire in the house, the young couple were wearing only single clothes, and there was no food in their bellies. They huddled on the cool Kang mat and "sifted chaff." But the four eyes were still searching the room. Suddenly I found a few grains of rice and beans in the cracks of the kang, so I picked them out one by one with my hands. I also found that there were still rice grains in the cracks of the floor, and I dug them out. This is life-saving food. They picked up a handful from here and there and put them into the pot. He stuffed the straw from the kang into the stove and cooked a pot of mixed porridge. There are millet, corn, soybeans, adzuki beans, sorghum, dried vegetable leaves... everything that can satisfy hunger is put in.

After it was cooked, each person had a bowl and ate it happily. At this time, the two of them remembered the teachings of the two old men and regretted not listening earlier. It was already too late now.

When the young couple was grieving, a strong wind blew. Because the house was in disrepair for a long time, it was already dilapidated. When the wind blew, with a "hurrah", the house collapsed, and the young couple was trapped underneath. When the neighbors came to dig them out, they were already dead, with half a bowl of mixed bean porridge beside them.

From then on, on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, every family would cook a pot of mixed rice porridge for the children to eat, and tell the children the story of the mixed rice porridge to educate them. In this way, it is passed down from generation to generation, from father to son, from son to grandson, and from generation to generation. has been passed down to modern times. The custom of eating "mixed rice porridge" on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month has formed. Because this porridge is eaten on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, it is called "Laba porridge".