Celebrate the Holy Laba Festival with a Bowl of Porridge in Breathtaking Beijing
Celebrate the Holy Laba Festival with a Bowl of Porridge in Breathtaking Beijing
Steeped in China's Buddhist heritage, the decidedly delectable Laba Festival is one of the Chinese calendar's most highly anticipated cultural events. Held on the 8th day of the 12th month in the Chinese lunar calendar the holiday celebrates Lord Buddha's enlightenment on the very day centuries ago. Legend states that Sakyamuni, the founder of the Buddhist philosophy consumed a diet which consisted only of rice porridge during this most auspicious period of his path to enlightenment. Buddhist monks since then have emulated this custom and prepared the sacred porridge on the eighth day of the 12th month of the Chinese lunar calendar. Later this practice spread to Buddhist devotees at large and now the Laba Festival would be incomplete without the customary bowl of porridge that has come to symbolize so much in the centuries that followed.
With a thousand year history, the Laba porridge preparation method has gone through several changes through the ages with over 100 recipes on how to prepare the sacred dish to date. Made almost entirely of rice and grain varieties such as glutinous rice, corns and oats the rice porridge also includes considerable helpings of kidney beans, soy beans, cowpeas and mung beans. A plethora of dried nuts with the likes of almonds, pine nuts, peanuts and chestnuts are also added in addition to meat and bean curd which are commonly used ingredients in some parts of China. Melon seeds, lotus seeds and sugar are also added to give more flavour to the dish as are varieties of preserved fruits. Although the process of making the porridge is time consuming it is also said to be a nutritious dish full of the nutrients necessary to survive the winter season. Also called Babao or the Eight Treasure porridge the rice soup contains vitamins, amino acids and proteins that are essential for good health.
After preparation the porridge is first offered to ancestors and is shared with friends before noon approaches. Families dig in to the aromatic and delicious treat together and leave some aside to symbolize the expectation of a good harvest in the year to come. Some residents also donate the porridge to those less fortunate as an act of goodwill.
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