beijingwalker
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January 10 is Laba festival , thousands of people waited outside Lama temple the whole night in freezing cold for Buddha saving porridge in Beijing.
According to Chinese Buddhist legend, the Buddha had become as emaciated as a fowl after following ascetic practices for many years in his quest for understanding and enlightenment. Seeing his physical state, a passing shepherdess offered him a bowl of rice porridge made with beans, rice, and milk. Gaining strength and spirit after eating the porridge, the Buddha began meditating under the Bodhi tree. Then, on the eighth day of the 12fth lunar month, he successfully attained enlightenment.
The celebration of the Buddha’s day of enlightenment appears to have emerged in the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (420 – 589), when followers chanted sutras in temples and prepared laba porridge as an offering for the Buddha. Buddhists also began offering porridge to all visitors to the temple. The celebration slowly entered into folk culture and became a widespread custom over time.
The Laba Festival also marks the moment where anticipation begins for Chinese New Year, which takes place just a few weeks later. With new year feasts just around the corner, parents have to remind their children not to indulge in too much laba porridge. A popular saying goes, “Little child, little child, don’t be greedy; after laba the New Year will come (小孩小孩你别馋，过了腊八就是年).”
