Dictionary

Laba porridge en · NOUN

Etymology

A partial calque of the Mandarin form of Chinese 臘八粥 /腊八粥 (làbāzhōu), named for its association with the Laba Festival.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) A kind of congee traditionally made with 8 variable vegetarian flavorings and consumed during the Laba Festival.
   • The Chinese have been eating laba porridge since the time of the Song Dynasty (960–1279). In those days, the central and local government as well as the monasteries would make laba porridge on every Laba Festival. 2011, Wei Liming, Chinese Festivals, page 9:
   • It is said that leftover Laba porridge is considered a good sign as it suggests that there will be leftovers every year... 2021, Joey Yap, Legendary Chinese Festivals:
   • In China, festivals are important occasions, when edibles and other gifts are presented and exchanged. In the few years of its existence, the factory has made it a practice to present at various festival times to each worker 10 dumplings, ½ catty of "mid-Autumn cake," ¼ catty of dried plums, ½ catty of sugar, [and] 10 cents for making "la-pa" porridge, a food to be taken on the eighth day of the last month in the year. [1951, Wilbert E. Moore, “The Search for New Opportunities”, in Industrialization and Labor: Social Aspects of Economic Development, New York: Russell & Russell, sourced from Sung-Ho Lin, Factory Workers in Tangku (Peiping: Social Research Department, China Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Culture, 1928), p. 33., published 1965, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 85–86:

Forms

Synonyms

Laba congee

Translations (3)

pl chiński kleik ryżowy (Translations) · zh 臘八粥 /腊八粥 (Translations) · zh 八寶粥 /八宝粥 (Translations)