It's Laba Festival today. In Chinese we call it 腊八(làbā). I am from Beijing. We'll call it 腊八儿(làbār). Listen to the podcast here:

腊(là) is coming from the word 腊月(làyuè) which is the 12th month in lunar calendar. 八(bā) is eight. So 腊八(làbā) just means the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. It's a traditional festival that usually celebrated by northern Chinese.

A famous food for Laba Festival is Laba Porridge, 腊八粥(làbāzhōu). Laba Porridge is made from a variety of ingredients like rice, red beans, millets, lotus seeds, red dates, peanuts, and so on. Each family has its own recipe, but usually it has to be eighth ingredients as it is 腊八(làbā).

Laba porridge was first mentioned in a book from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), which is 1000 years ago. According to the record, temples in the capital city started to cook Laba porridge with various types of grains and nuts, and sent them to the visitors. Laba Festival is in the coldest time of a year. Having a bowl of hot porridge is good for people's health. 

We have a saying：

Làqī làbā, dòng sǐ hányā.

腊七腊八，冻死寒鸦。

寒鸦(hányā) jackdaw, it is a kind of black little bird living in the northern part of China, which usually do not mind the cold. But during the 7th and 8th day of the twelfth lunar month, the weather is so cold that even that bird can be frozen to death.

I remember when I was young, my mom told me if we didn't have Laba porridge at Laba festival, we would get frostbite in that winter.

腊八(làbā) is celebrated before Chinese new year. There is a traditional Chinese children's folk rhyme says：

Xiǎoháir xiǎoháir nǐ bié chán, guò le làbār jiù shì nián.

小孩儿小孩儿你别馋，过了腊八儿就是年。

Little child, don't be greedy. After Laba Festival, it's New Year. Which means you will have some good food to eat soon when the Chinese new year come.

In North China there is a custom of pickling garlic in vinegar on Laba Day. After some pickling, the garlic will turn green. This pickled garlic goes very well with dumplings which we usually eat in the Chinese New Year. So making Laba garlic is a kind of preparation for the New Year. The Laba garlic in Chinese is 腊八蒜(làbāsuàn).

In Chinese, the word “garlic” is 蒜(suàn) which has the same pronunciation with the word “calculate” 算(suàn). Therefore, making Laba garlic is symbolic of calculating the year's income and expenses as year-end approaches. So Laba is also considered the beginning of the New Year celebration.

In the coming weeks, we will make some posts about the Chinese New Year. If you have any topics you would like to know, please feel free to leave a message and let us know. If you are interested in learning Chinese with our BLCU Chinese teachers, please click here for our online course details.

Làbā kuàilè!

腊八快乐！