Laba Festival is celebrated on the eighth day of the last lunar month, marking the beginning of celebrating the Chinese Spring Festival. La means the 12th lunar month and ba means the number eight. The date usually falls in mid-January. The majority of people from Han nationality has followed the tradition of eating Laba rice porridge on the Laba Festival. Laba rice porridge was first introduced to China in the Song Dynasty. According to historical records, some large temples would offer the poor Laba rice porridge to show their faith to Buddha. In the Ming Dynasty, it became a holy food that emperors would use to award their officials on the festival.
臘八節(jié)（the Laba Festival）在農(nóng)歷最后一個月的第八天慶祝，標志著春節(jié)慶?；顒拥拈_始。“臘”指“臘月（the 12th lunar month）”，是農(nóng)歷第十二個月，“八”指的是數(shù)字8。臘八節(jié)通常在1月中旬。大多數(shù)漢族人遵循臘八節(jié)喝臘八粥（Laba rice porridge）的習俗。臘八粥最早在宋朝傳入中國。據(jù)史料記載，一些大型寺廟會為窮人提供臘八粥來表達對佛祖（Buddha）的虔誠。明朝時，臘八粥成為皇帝在此節(jié)日賞賜群臣的神圣食物。
