A teacher explains the ingredients of La Ba porridge to students at Gu Huai Jie Primary School in Xuchang, Henan province, Jan 20, 2010. (Photo: chinadaily.com.cn)

La Ba Festival

An important day during Major Cold is the La Ba Festival, when people usually eat La Ba porridge, a porridge with eight kinds of mixed grains and corn. The festival is celebrated on the eighth (ba 八) day of the 12th month (la yue 腊月) and is one of the most important traditional festivals in Chinese culture. It is also a prelude to the Chinese Lunar New Year. This year the La Ba Festival falls on Jan 27.

The festival was originally a day of thanks for a good harvest and sacrifice to ancestors. It also marks the day on which Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, reached enlightenment and became immortal.