Laba Festival originated in China.

There are many explanations for the origin of the Laba Festival. It is first said that when Zhu Yuanzhang was suffering in prison, he dug out some red beans, rice, red dates and other whole grains from the mouse hole in the prison. He made these into porridge. Because it was the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Zhu Yuanzhang said This pot of multigrain porridge is Laba porridge. Later, when Zhu Yuanzhang settled the world and became emperor, he designated this day as the Laba Festival and officially named the multigrain porridge he ate that day Laba porridge.

The second one is derived from Chidou Ghost Fighting. Legend has it that three of Zhuan Xu’s sons turned into evil ghosts after their death and came out to scare children. These evil ghosts are not afraid of anything but red beans, so there is a saying that red beans fight ghosts. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, red beans are used to cook porridge to ward off epidemics and welcome good luck.

The third reason is out of people’s memory of Yue Fei. The Yue family army suffered from hunger and cold during the war, and the common people sent porridge one after another. The Yue family army had a good meal and returned with a great victory. This day happened to be the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. After Yue Fei's death, people cooked porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to commemorate him.