The Laba Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the eighth day of the twelfth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. “La” represents the 12th lunar month. The day reminds people that the Spring Festival is just around the corner and is a day when eating rice porridge is not to be taken lightly.
The 12th lunar month in Chinese is called la yue, so the eighth day of this lunar month is la yue chu ba, or laba. The day is also known as the Laba Rice Porridge Festival. The Laba this year falls on December 30th.
There are several legends about the origin of this festival and we could not tell which one is true. But what we know today is that this festival started as a sacrificial offering to ancestors. It was also a time for the ancient Chinese to pray to heaven and earth that there would be a bountiful harvest.
Three major customs on Laba are ancestor worship, eating Laba rice porridge and making Laba garlic.
The worship of ancestors
The worship of ancestors, called “腊” in Chinese, and the sacrifice for the gods, called “蜡”, both frequently took place in the 12th month, which led to the traditional name of the month: la yue. And the day of sacrifice is called la ri.
The Laba rice porridge
Porridge is a dish of any boiled grain, gruel is a very thin porridge, and congee is a specific type of porridge made using rice. Traditionally, the Laba rice porridge is the most important element of the festival. Generally, the porridge contains eight ingredients which can include glutinous rice, red beans, millet, Chinese sorghum, peas, dried lotus seeds and some other ingredients, such as dried dates, chestnut meat, walnut meat, almond and peanut, etc. The Laba rice porridge is called “Union Food” in Henan Province, which is a food custom in memory of China’s national hero Yue Fei.
Laba garlic
Another custom is the soaking of Laba garlic. The practice is very simple. Put the stripped garlic cloves into a sealed jar, and then pour vinegar into it. Gradually, the color of those garlic cloves will turn green. By the time of the Spring Festival, you can taste the garlic while eating dumplings.