Today is Chinese Laba Festival

Today we celebrate Laba Festival in China, which started on 8th of December in lunar every year from our ancesstors' time, it's so traditional that we make it the symbol of New Year coming.

We eat Laba Zhu this day, it's also called Laba porridge which contains 8 ingredients, 8 is a lucky number in our culture and Laba "La" means December in Lunar, "ba" has a similar pronunciation to 8 in Chinese. Laba Zhu can be made from a variety of rice, beans, nuts, peas, seeds, dried fruits and even meat, sweet or salty.

It's also related to buddhism, Sakyamuni used to be saved by a bowl of milk (porridge) and then he understood the truth of life and became a sage buddha. Many temples will give out porridge to the poor for free as a tradition.

There is other food to make today, the sweet and sour garlic (Laba garlic). It's pickled in vinegar for 20+ days and we take them out to share and eat on Chinese New Year, it tastes so delicious when eaten with dumplings.

Also people have Laba tofu baked, and eat wheat kernel rice with mutton and beef in plateau section.

Different area have different culture and customs to celebrate Laba in China, but we are all the same to keep this tradition.