Laba Festival

Every family celebrates the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month with rice like beads and boiled beans. From "Kou Shu Porridge" by Fan Chengda of the Song Dynasty

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Customs of the Laba Festival:

1. Cook Laba porridge

The ingredients used to cook Laba porridge in the Song Dynasty were walnuts (walnuts), pine nuts, milk mushrooms (mushrooms), persimmons, chestnuts, plus rice and beans. The seven ingredients symbolize the "Seven Treasures" of Buddhism and contain the sour, spicy, bitter, sweet and salty qualities of life. It has five flavors, so it is called "Qibao Five Flavors Porridge". Later generations did not know its meaning, so they often called Laba porridge "eight treasure porridge". Sometimes, eight kinds of rice, beans and fruits must be collected to make porridge. In fact, the ingredients of Laba porridge are different in different dynasties and generations. Mr. Lao She even jokingly called Laba ingredients a "small agricultural exhibition." So as long as it is cooked with a variety of ingredients, there is no need to worry about eight ingredients.

2. Pickled Laba Garlic

Pickled Laba Garlic is mainly popular in northern China, especially in North China. Laba garlic is pickled in vinegar. The finished product is as green as jade and tastes sour and slightly spicy. There is also a story about eating Laba garlic in old Beijing. It comes from the homophony of "garlic" and "suan". In the old days of Beijing, various shops had the custom of settling accounts in the twelfth lunar month of the previous year, usually starting from the Laba Festival. As the saying goes, "After eating Laba rice, you will do your annual affairs." Therefore, the Laba Festival is also called "Laba Calculation".