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Laba Festival

Laba is celebrated on the eighth day of the 12th lunar morth, because La in Chinese means the 12th lunar month and Ba means eight. On this day, Labazhou（腊八粥）,a kind of rice porridge is traditionally served.

Labazhou is also known as the eight-treasure porridge, referring to the many nutritious ingredients used in this porridge. Here is the typical way to make it. First, boil glutinous rice, millet, glutinous millet, chestnuts and dried dates together, then add peanuts, almonds, walnuts, melon-seed meat, other dried fruits and brown sugar to make the gruel not only delicious, but also nutritious. You may also add red beans, kidney beans, pine nuts, lotus seeds, or anything else nutritious or tasty into the pot.

So you can see,there can be more than eight ingredients in the porridge. In fact, ingredients used in the eight-treasure congee are virtually unlimited. Here, eight simply means many. No wonder it is considered in traditional Chinese medicine as a healthy food that is particularly good for the spleen, stomach and blood. The recipe has now become a common meal for many Chinese. In fact the porridge is so tasty with its combination of colorful, sweet ingredients that these days, eating it is not limited to only the eighth day of the 12th lunar month. Chinese people can find it in the market and enjoy it throughout the year.

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