Northerners prefer to use glutinous rice, red beans, dates, lotus sees, dried longan pulp, walnuts, pine nuts and other dried fruits in their porridge; southerners like a salty porridge prepared with rice, soybeans, peanuts, broad beans, taro, water chestnuts, walnuts, vegetables and diced meat. Some people like to add cinnamon and other condiments to inject flavor. Controlling the heat is of great importance in the outcome. At the start, the flame must be high, but the fire is then turned down to let the porridge simmer until it begins to emit avery delicious smell. The process is time-consuming but not complicated.
Laba porridge is not only easy to prepare, but also a nutritious winter food because it contains amino acids, protein and other vitamins people need. Cooked nuts and dried fruit are good for smoothing nerves, nourishing ones heart and vitality, and strengthening the spleen. Perhaps that is why it is also called babao (Eight Treasure) porridge.
The Laba Festival, the day in most parts of China have the custom of eating Laba porridge. Laba is a harvest year with eight fresh food and fruits boiled, usually for the sweet porridge. The Central Plains have many farmers prefer salty to eat Laba porridge, porridge in addition to rice, millet, mung bean, cowpea, peanut, jujube and other raw materials, but also add pork, radish, cabbage, vermicelli, seaweed, tofu and so on.
腊八节这天我国大多数地区都有吃腊八粥的习俗。腊八粥是用八种当年收获的新鲜粮食和瓜果煮成，一般都为甜味粥。而中原地区的许多农家却喜欢吃腊八咸粥，粥内除大米、小米、绿豆、豇豆、花生、大枣等原料外，还要加肉丝、萝卜、白菜、粉条、海带、豆腐等。
Laba Festival, the original ancient harvest celebrations, thanks to ancestors and gods (including the goalkeeper, household God, house of God, Kitchen God, well God) rituals, in addition to worship ancestors the activities, but also by people infected. This activity comes from the ancient Nuo (avoid the outbreak of the ancient ceremony of exorcism.) One way to prehistoric times, the exorcism of medical treatment illness. The activities of the twelfth lunar month as the witchcraft epidemic of custom drum drive, this and other areas in Hunan is still retained Xinhua. Later evolved into a commemoration of the Buddha Sakyamuni Road religious holiday. Xia said the December date, Ka-ping, Shang was clear Si, Zhou as big wax; due to be held in December, it said the month is the twelfth lunar month, known as La La at the festival that day. Pre wax at the third after the winter solstice Xu day fixed in the twelfth lunar month before the Northern and Southern started eighth day.
腊八节原自古代欢庆丰收、感谢祖先和神灵(包括门神、户神、宅神、灶神、井神)的祭祀仪式，除祭祖敬神的活动外，人们还要逐疫。这项活动来源于古代的傩(古代驱鬼避疫的仪式)。史前时代的医疗方法之一即驱鬼治疾。作为巫术活动的腊月击鼓驱疫之俗，今在湖南新化等地区仍有留存。后演化成纪念佛祖释伽牟尼成道的宗教节日。夏代称腊日为嘉平，商代为清祀，周代为大蜡;因在十二月举行，故称该月为腊月，称腊祭这一天为腊日。先秦的腊日在冬至后的第三个戌日，南北朝开始才固定在腊月初八。
Said the text contains: Shu at December after the winter solstice festival three hundred gods. Visible, Shu third day after the winter solstice was December day. Buddhism after the intervention of the Prince at eighth day in December changed since then Xiangyan into the vulgar.
《说文》载：冬至后三戍日腊祭百神。可见，冬至后第三个戍日曾是腊日。后由于佛教介入，腊日改在十二月初八，自此相沿成俗。
The majority Han Chinese have long followed the tradition of eating laba rice porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The date usually falls in min-January and is a traditional Chinese festival.
Legend about the origin of this festivity abounds One maintains that over 3,000 years ago sacrificial rites were held in the twelfth lunar month when people offered up their prey to the gods of heaven and earth. The Chinese characters for the hunt and the twelfth month (lie and la) were interchangeable then, and ever since la has been used to refer to both. Since the festival was held on the eighth day of the last month, people later appended the number eighth (ba in Chinese), giving us the current laba.
