The Laba Rice Porridge Festival,theStarting of New Year
2 min readLaba Rice Porridge Festival falls on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.People willhave Laba Rice Porridge on this day.
Having Laba Rice Porridge has a history of over onethousand years in China.This tradition originated fromIndian Buddhism.Legend has it that Sakyamuni became aBuddhist under a banyan on the eighth day of the twelfthlunar month.Afterwards,people would have rice porridgeon this day in memory of the Buddha’s sufferings.Also,Laba Rice Porridge would be cooked on this day in templesin many places,with rice,nutlet,millet,etc.as the rawmaterial.It would be sacrificed to the Buddha first and then given out to disciples and the poor.Since Laba Rice Porridge was believed to be blessed with good fortune and longevity,it wasalso called”Longevity Blessing Porridge”and”Virtue Blessing Porridge”.
Since then Laba Rice Porridge was prepared on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar monthin courts,officials’ mansions,temples and ordinary people’s homes.This custom became moreprevalent in Qing Dynasty.On this day,the emperor,empress and princes in the royal courtwould bestow Laba Rice Porridge to civil and military ministers as well as attendants andmaids of honor.Also,they would give out rice,fruits and other materials to monks in temples.Meanwhile,every ordinary family would cook Laba Rice Porridge and offer sacrifice to theirancestors.Then all family members would get together to have the porridge.
After being introduced to China,this custom was combined with quite a lot of Chinese traditional ones.For example,the cooked Laba Rice Porridge would be sacrificed to ancestorsfirst.Also,having Laba Rice Porridge with part of it uneaten would be regarded as luckand wealth and well-off families would give out porridge to the poor for they believed suchcharitable move would help to accumulate their own virtue.It is also a custom in some regionsto daub Laba Rice Porridge onto fruit trees in the hope of a good harvest and auspice in thecoming year.
