What is the origin of eight-treasure porridge?

Eight-treasure porridge, also known as Laba porridge and Buddha porridge, is a traditional festival food in China. It is a kind of porridge cooked with various ingredients in Laba Festival. "Eight-treasure porridge" generally takes japonica rice, glutinous rice or black glutinous rice as the main material, and adds auxiliary materials, such as mung beans, red beans, lentils, white lentils, red dates, peach kernels, peanuts, lotus seeds, longan, pine nuts, yams, lilies, medlar, gordon euryales and coix seed.

People in different parts of China choose different materials according to their dietary preferences. Different brands of cans have different materials for "eight-treasure porridge". But there are basically four kinds of raw materials: rice, beans and laba porridge. Traditionally, highland barley, white kidney beans, red beans and mung beans are picked up and washed, and eight-treasure porridge is cooked until half cooked, then rice, millet and yellow rice are added and cooked with slow fire. The consistency of porridge is moderate. Add sugar when eating and mix with pre-cooked red dates and chestnuts. Generally, there are peanuts, dates, almonds, walnuts, chestnuts, lotus seeds, lilies, longan pulp, raisins and all kinds of rice and beans. Dried fruit, Chinese herbal medicine. Cooking at home is "eight-treasure porridge", sometimes chestnuts, carrots, sausages, bacon and so on are added.

Laba porridge is porridge cooked with a variety of ingredients on Laba Festival, also known as Qibao Wuwei porridge. The custom of Laba porridge no longer belongs to Buddhists. Laba porridge, as a folk custom, is eaten on December 8 of the lunar calendar to celebrate the harvest, and has been passed down to this day. The earliest Laba porridge was boiled with adzuki beans, which gradually enriched through evolution and local characteristics. The legend of Laba porridge comes from Tianzhu, India. The eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the anniversary of Buddha's enlightenment, commonly known as Laba Festival, which is called Magic Weapon Festival in Buddhism.

On the eighth day of December in the Gregorian calendar, the custom of eating "Laba porridge" (called "laba rice" in some places) spread among the people in Han areas of China. In Henan, Laba porridge, also known as "everyone's meal", is a holiday food custom to commemorate the national hero Yue Fei. Legend has it that Yue Jiajun crusaded against Jin Lu and won successively in Zhuxian Town, but was chased back by the twelve golden seals of the imperial court. On the way back to Li, the soldiers were hungry and cold, and the Henan people along the way poured the food sent by each family into a big pot to cook porridge for the soldiers to satisfy their hunger and keep out the cold. This day happens to be the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Later, Yue Fei was killed in Fengbo Pavilion. In order to remember this national hero, every household in Henan eats "everybody's meal" on Laba Day to show their memory.

Laba porridge, as a habitual diet of Laba, has its allusions and practical significance. When the temperature in Bala is the lowest in a year, people's physique becomes weak. However, a simple Laba porridge contains the effects of regulating stomach, invigorating spleen, nourishing heart, clearing away lung heat, tonifying kidney, benefiting liver, improving eyesight, calming nerves and relaxing bowels, which can be described as comprehensive. At the same time, rich nutrition can enhance immunity and improve cold tolerance index.