The Laba Festival
The Laba Festival falls on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar
month. This holiday may be traced back to the ancient Chinese custom of
sacrificing game to the ancestors during the last month of the lunar year.
Following the ritual, the participants feasted together on the sacrificial meat
in an early expression of the Chinese tradition of communal eating. The Laba
Festival is popularly referred to as Laji Festival (End-of-Year Sacrifice
Festival), another indication of its ancient origins and association with early
sacrificial rituals. It is also said that Sakyamuni Buddha attained
enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. As a result, with
the introduction of Buddhism to China, the Laba Festival also became known as the
Day of Enlightenment.
Eating porridge on the Laba Festival is a very old tradition. As Buddhism
became integrated into Chinese society, "Laba porridge" became known as "Buddha
porridge," in commemoration of the date of Buddha's enlightenment. Legend has it
that after Sakyamuni left secular life to become a monk, he meditated so deeply
that he often forgot to eat. Once, when he was close to dying of starvation, he
encountered a woman tending her flock. The woman saved his life by feeding him
rice porridge with milk, enabling him to continue meditating and attain
enlightenment on the day of Laba Festival. In order to commemorate this
incident, every year at the Laba Festival Buddhists eat Laba porridge, also
known as Buddha porridge. Many versions of the legends concerning the origins of
Laba Festival exist in different regions of China.
The two most important traditions associated with Laba Festival are eating
Laba porridge, and praying for peace and good health in the coming year.
Virtually every household in China eats Laba porridge on
the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Filled with nuts and dried fruit,
today's Laba porridge is both tastier and more appealing to the eye than the
"Buddha porridge" of the past. Today, Laba porridge serves as a symbol of good
fortune, long life, and fruitful harvest.
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