腊八节是什么节?
What is the Laba Festival?
Name: ________________ Date: ________
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 亮 | liàng | bright; shiny; to shine; to light up |
| 排 | pái | to arrange; to line up |
| 队 | duì | team; group |
| 寒冷 | hánlěng | cold; frigid |
| 答案 | dá’àn | answer; solution |
| 指 | zhǐ | to mean; to refer to |
| 年底 | niándǐ | end of the year |
| 感谢 | gǎnxiè | to thank; to be grateful; thanks; gratitude |
| 一切 | yíqiè | everything; all |
| 人生 | rénshēng | life (a person's life) |
| 因此 | yīncǐ | therefore; consequently; for this reason |
| 免费 | miǎnfèi | free (of charge) |
English (for the teacher)
Winter in Beijing: before dawn, a long queue has already formed outside the Lama Temple. It is bitterly cold, but nobody is in a hurry; people chat as they wait. What are they waiting for? A bowl of hot porridge. It turns out today is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month: the Laba Festival.
The “la” in Laba means layue, the last month of the lunar year; “ba”, eight, is the month’s eighth day. Long ago, at the end of the year, people gave thanks for a good harvest and hoped the next year would be safe and well. Later, when Buddhism reached China, it brought a story to the festival: legend says the Buddha ate a bowl of porridge on this day and then understood the truth of life. So many temples cook porridge on this day and give it away for free. More than two hundred years ago, the Lama Temple’s porridge was already famous. The tradition is still alive today.
So what actually goes into this porridge? There’s no standard answer. Rice, peanuts, red dates… Every family’s mix tends to be different, but there are usually at least eight. Some people joke that it’s like throwing every grain you can find at home into one pot. Simmer it for a few hours and it turns sweet and fragrant, full of flavour. One bowl on a winter morning and you’re warm all over.
In northern China there’s one more job on this day: soaking garlic. Put the garlic in vinegar and leave it somewhere cool. After twenty-odd days, the white garlic slowly turns a beautiful green. On New Year’s Eve, when the whole family eats dumplings, it’s ready just in time to eat with them. Why garlic? One explanation is that “suan” (garlic) sounds the same as “suan” (to count), and the end of the year is exactly when people count up what they earned and spent.
People say: “Once Laba is past, the New Year is here.” When Laba comes, Spring Festival is only about three weeks away. People start cleaning their homes and buying New Year goods, and slowly the air fills with the feeling of the holiday. So if you see a crowd queuing for a bowl of porridge in winter, don’t be surprised. They’re not just waiting for porridge; they’re waiting for the New Year.