Visitors line up for free laba porridge on Tuesday at Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province, to celebrate Laba Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Thousands of people flocked to Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province, for free laba porridge on Tuesday to celebrate Laba Festival.
"Laba" literally means the eighth day of the 12th month of the Chinese calendar. Laba Festival, considered a prelude to Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, falls on Jan 7 this year. It is customary to eat laba porridge on this day.
Wang Chuanxi, a volunteer at Wenshu Monastery, said that to ensure everyone enjoys steaming hot laba porridge, over a dozen chefs started cooking in the early morning, taking turns to prepare the porridge.
Visitors line up for free laba porridge on Tuesday at Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province, to celebrate Laba Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
The monastery's laba porridge is made from 14 ingredients, including dried tangerine peel, red dates, coix seed, goji berries and black rice, he said.
Wang said the monastery gave out 100,000 cups of freshly cooked laba porridge to visitors from Sunday to Tuesday, with 40,000 cups served on Tuesday. It also set up 324 porridge serving spots across Chengdu, distributing 250,000 cups of pre-cooked laba porridge.
Visitors line up for free laba porridge on Tuesday at Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province, to celebrate Laba Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
A woman surnamed Duan, who visited the monastery with her 72-year-old mother, said it has become a tradition for her family to go there to celebrate Laba Festival.
"The influence of the event is growing, and it is obvious that an increasing number of young people are coming to celebrate the traditional festival," she said.
Tan Jihe, a distinguished researcher at the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, said laba was originally a day to express gratitude for a good harvest and to make sacrifices to ancestors. Locals started the tradition of having porridge on laba as early as 2,000 years ago.
Visitors line up for free laba porridge on Tuesday at Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province, to celebrate Laba Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Serving free laba porridge has been a tradition at Wenshu Monastery for over 300 years. The monastery said that by holding the temple fair, it hopes to integrate the traditional festival into people's daily lives, bringing warmth and blessings amid the daily hustle.
Jia Libin, director of Chengdu's intangible cultural heritage protection center, said the monastery has played a vital role in facilitating the creative transformation and innovative development of traditional laba culture.
"The sweet flavor of laba porridge has fostered gratitude, benevolence and family harmony and formed a collective memory and cultural identity for Chengdu people," he said.
Visitors line up for free laba porridge on Tuesday at Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province, to celebrate Laba Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
Visitors line up for free laba porridge on Tuesday at Wenshu Monastery in Chengdu, Sichuan province, to celebrate Laba Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]