| Waitresses prepare bowls of hot Laba porridge for local residents at Gongdelin Vegetarian Restaurant in Beijing, January 3, 2009. La in Chinese means the 12th lunar month and Ba means eight. The Laba festival is celebrated on the eighth day of the last lunar month, referring to the traditional start of celebrations for the Chinese New Year. Cooking porridge on Laba is an age-old Chinese folk tradition to pray for good fortune in the New Year. The porridge contains glutinous rice, red beans, millet, Chinese sorghum, peas, dried lotus seeds, red beans and some other ingredients, such as dried dates, chestnut meat, walnut meat, almond, and peanut. (Xinhua) |
