Laba Festival Celebrations: Tradition And Warmth Fill The Air

Laba Festival, which is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month every year, is also known as the "Dharma Treasure Festival", "Buddha Enlightenment Festival", "Enlightenment Meeting", etc. Originally a Buddhist festival commemorating the enlightenment of Sakyamuni Buddha, it gradually became a folk festival.

Laba porridge, also known as "Seven Treasures and Five Flavors Porridge", "Buddha Porridge", "Everyone's Rice", etc., is a kind of porridge made from a variety of ingredients. The earliest written records of Laba porridge date back to the Song Dynasty. "Meng Liang Lu" written by Wu Zimu in the Southern Song Dynasty records: "On the eighth day of this month, temples call it Laba porridge. 

Dasha and other temples all have five-flavor porridge, which is called Laba porridge." The history of drinking Laba porridge in our country has been more than a thousand years. On Laba day, no matter the government, monasteries or ordinary people's homes, they must make Laba porridge. In the Qing Dynasty, the custom of drinking Laba porridge became even more popular.

In northern China, there is a saying, "Children, don't be greedy, it's the New Year after Laba Festival." Celebrating Laba Festival means the beginning of the New Year. Every Laba Festival, people in the north are busy peeling garlic to make vinegar, soaking Laba garlic, and eating Laba noodles and Laba porridge. Laba Festival is rarely mentioned in the south, and the Laba Festival is a typical northern festival.