Chapter 24 Laba porridge for delivery

There is a proverb in Peiping: "The Laba porridge for sending letters is the deadly Kanto sugar." It means that after eating the Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, it is time to prepare to pay off the credit for the New Year. The age is approaching, and the creditors will come to collect debts.The custom of eating Laba porridge seems to be that the north is more prosperous than the south. When it comes to taste, the south has always been sweet and the north salty.The author has eaten Laba porridge made by people from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi and other provinces. Most of them are more salty than sweet. On the contrary, the Laba porridge in Hebei, Shanxi, Chasui and other provinces are all desserts. I have never seen any salty Laba porridge. It is really puzzling. thing.

At that time in the mainland, all those who believed in Buddhism called it Buddha La on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, and cooking porridge for Buddha was also called Laba Festival.According to Buddhist scriptures, Shakyamuni Buddha was the son of King Jingfan, the lord of Kapila City in India. He was born in the sixteenth year of King Zhou Zhao, and he was born with superhuman Su Hui.He saw all living beings being tortured by the eight kinds of hardships such as life, old age, sickness, death, love and parting, resentment and hatred, not being able to get what they want, and the blazing five shades, as well as the inequality of the four racial classes in India at that time, so he resolutely gave up the throne and slipped away quietly in the middle of the night. Leaving the king's city, he went through untold hardships, trekked through dangers, and wandered to the country of Rammo. He met a prophet and sage, and after three days and three nights of non-stop talking about scriptures, he converted to Buddhism.After six years of painstaking practice, I sat under the bodhi tree every day, contemplating and thinking, and finally on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, I saw the stars in the sky at night, and with a little meditation, I suddenly showed light, and immediately enlightened and became a Buddha.

The Indian calendar is based on Jianzi. On the day Sakyamuni became enlightened, the Indian calendar is February 8th. Using the Chinese Jianyin's lunar calendar to calculate, it happens to be the eighth day of December in the lunar calendar. Therefore, Chinese Buddhists set the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month as It's the auspicious day for the Buddha's enlightenment. Laba porridge has a long history and has a very ancient origin. It is said that the ancient Indian Buddhist monks, in view of the six years of ascetic practice before the Buddha became enlightened, only ate one hemp and one meter a day. Every year in Laba, beans, fruits, and millet are used to cook porridge for the Buddha, and I will never forget it. It is said that after drinking the Buddha porridge, you can invite the Buddha to bless you.Since Buddhism came to China, all major Buddhist monasteries have made porridge for the Buddha at dawn on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The porridge used is complete with all kinds of grains. "Seven treasures and five flavors porridge".The monks made friends in the vast forest, and on the same day, they invited Dharma protectors, faithful men and women to come and burn incense with joy, and sip Laba porridge, which is a gift for Buddha.It is natural to redouble the donation of lamp oil incense, and the pilgrims return home with blessings, and everyone is happy with each other.

Chinese folks drink Laba porridge, and this custom has existed in the era of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong believed in Buddhism, and sent Master Xuanzang to Guan Wanli to go west to Tianzhu to obtain the scriptures, so the custom of eating Laba porridge on Dao Laba became even more popular for a while.The Qing Dynasty also believed in Buddhism. During the Kangxi period, Haiyan and Heqing had been in peace for a long time. One year, the emperor was happy and rewarded meritorious officials with Laba porridge offered to Buddha in Da Nei, which has become a common practice since then.The white-ground blue-and-white porcelain fired by the Yongzheng official kiln is elegant and simple, and is most praised by experts in porcelain appreciation.In the previous dynasty of Jiaqing Buwu, they also made a batch of porridge jars with colorful solid flowers and gilded gold for appreciating people. Later, it was discovered that these special porridge jars from the two dynasties, if used to breed dwarf peonies, change the water every day, which is better than ordinary ancient porcelain. The honor and evil lasted for four or five days.People say that the porcelain pots fired in the Yongzheng and Jiaqing eras have become treasures in antique shops.

The custom of making Laba porridge during the Laba Festival seems to be very common on both sides of the Yellow River, the north and south of the river, and even the Pearl River Basin.As far as the Laba porridge I have personally tasted, I am afraid that the Laba porridge in Beiping is the most elegant.Beiping was the capital of the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, Qing and five dynasties. It was rich in humanities, and the food and service were naturally different from other places.The porridge ingredients of Laba porridge in Beiping include millet, corn grits, sorghum rice, sorghum rice, red beans, barley kernels, and barley rice are all indispensable cereals.Take porridge as an example, dried lilies, dried lotus seeds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, chestnuts, and red dates are also indispensable.At the same time, the red dates should be boiled, peeled and pitted, then the skins of the dates should be boiled in water, and the soup should be poured into the pot to make porridge together. The soft red dates are delicious and beautiful.The lily and lotus seeds in the dried fruit should be put into the pot together with the porridge ingredients; as for other porridge fruits such as red dates, chestnuts, and pine nuts, they can be placed separately; almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts are afraid of being dried by the wind. On the table, you can put a variety of porridge fruits at will.

It is a custom that the Laba porridge offered to Buddha and ancestors is always offered in porridge cans, instead of bowls and chopsticks. Sages, bowls are not easy to come by, so we have to use jars instead.According to the usual practice, only brown sugar can be put in the porridge, and white sugar such as Tougong and Ergong are not allowed. It is not known why.The size of the porridge pot is large, and it is used for the Laba porridge for gods and ancestors to present to relatives and friends. In order to respect and look beautiful, the porridge noodles are stretched. All kinds of flowers, birds, insects and fish, birds and beasts, dragon boats and crane heads, like scales and wings, are really romantic and breathtaking.

After offering sacrifices to the Buddha and their ancestors, the children still have a task to pour a spoonful of thick Laba porridge on all the dry and soft roots in the front yard and backyard, trees and flowers.It is said that spring returns to the earth, not only the lush greenery, but also the flowers and leaves are luxuriant, and the fruit and trees do not shed their branches. Whether this is true or not, no one studies and pays attention to it. The Laba porridge made by the rich and powerful families is not only offered to Buddha and ancestors, but also as a gift to relatives and friends. A can of fruit porridge is shabby, so it has to be served with two dishes and two dishes. white.Some master chefs in the boudoir, although they are said to be wild vegetables and wild vegetables, but the five elements and seven fragrances are not much better than the original and rare delicacies!Some people boil a few pots at a time, and the weather in the north is cold, so they store it in crock pots and put it in a room without a fire. It is frozen and hard as a stone. Mix with water and warm.Because the porridge is sticky and hard, you must use a horse spoon to stir it at any time, otherwise it will be very easy to scorched and burnt, and even steam on the surface, and there are still ice balls inside. Therefore, people in Peiping say that cooking Laba porridge requires real skills, and you need to be patient when you heat Laba porridge, right? If you have experienced it, you don't know the trick.

Back then, it was a special honor for the upright officials to reward ministers and workers with Laba porridge.Liang Jiean (Ding Fen) in Panyu passed away in Beiping, and the obituary also listed the appreciation of the yellow mandarin jacket, double-eyed feathers, wearing court horses, and appreciation of Laba porridge as honors! As for the taste of the Laba porridge given by the emperor?Although it is said to be made by the imperial kitchen, it should be a treasure of Shangshi, but in terms of taste, it is not as good as the Laba porridge cooked by ordinary Gaohua families.The Laba porridge bestowed by the emperor is usually distributed by the eunuch and Sura to each mansion for drinking. No matter men, women, old or young, they should pay respects to the eunuch, and Sura will give a share. Therefore, the popular eunuchs only choose places with large populations. to deliver.As for families with a small population, it was the turn of eunuchs who were not popular to move around.Some exiled ministers and ex-officials, whose family fortunes are in decline, would spend a lot of effort on the money every time the emperor bestowed porridge!

The author has been in Taiwan for more than 30 years. Although I have eaten Laba porridge given by relatives and friends several times, the ingredients and fruits of the porridge are not fully prepared in Taiwan, especially red dates, hazelnuts, pine nuts, and chestnuts are not produced, so Laba porridge can be eaten. There is always a sense of difference between the past and the present in the mouth.