On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the folk custom is called Laba, which is the first festival before the Spring Festival. In ancient times, December was called the twelfth lunar month. According to legend, the eighth day of December is also the day when Buddha Sakyamuni became a monk and became a Taoist, which is called "Magic Weapon Festival" and is one of the grand festivals in Buddhism. Therefore, the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is the origin of Laba Festival, not other figures such as Laqi and Lajiu.

(1) According to legend, in the northern part of ancient India, there lived a king suddhodana who had a son named Siddhartha Gautama. When he was young, he felt bitter about birth, illness and death. So, at the age of 29, he abandoned the luxurious life of the royal family, became a monk, studied yoga and practiced asceticism for six years.

According to historical records, this day is the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in China. Because he was Sakyamuni, Buddhists later called him Sakyamuni, which means Sakyamuni's saint. After Buddhism was introduced into China, monasteries were built everywhere, and the activity of cooking porridge to worship Buddha became popular. Especially on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, when Sakyamuni offered sacrifices to cultivate Buddha, all monasteries held chanting, and imitated the legendary program of offering a kind of "chyle" before Buddhism became a Buddha, and cooked porridge to worship Buddha. This is the origin of Laba porridge.

(2) Laba is a ritual to worship ancestors and gods (including door gods, household gods, house gods, kitchen gods and well gods) and pray for good harvest and good luck. According to the Book of Rites, La Worship was "the year of December, when everything gathered and everything wanted something." The Xia dynasty called Lari "Jiaping", the Shang dynasty called it "moss" and the Zhou dynasty called it "big wax". Because it is held in December, it is called the twelfth lunar month, and La Worship is called the twelfth lunar month. The twelfth lunar month in the pre-Qin period was the third day after the winter solstice, and then Buddhism was introduced. In order to expand its influence in the local area, traditional culture attaches Laba Festival as the Buddhist calendar enlightenment day. Later, with the prevalence of Buddhism, the Buddha's enlightenment day merged with the twelfth day, which was called the "magic weapon festival" in Buddhism. The Northern and Southern Dynasties began to be fixed on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.