What to do
- Queue at a temple in the morning for the congee. It is free, it is genuine, and the queue is the experience.
Eat — Laba congee (腊八粥), and the garlic if you can find it later.
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Festivals · Eighth day of the twelfth lunar month — January. The traditional opening of the New Year run-up.
Laba Festival腊八节
The day the countdown to Spring Festival begins. Buddhist temples cook enormous cauldrons of Laba congee — eight or more grains, beans, nuts and dried fruit — and give it away free to anyone who queues, a practice that has run continuously for centuries at temples like Yonghegong in Beijing. Households pickle Laba garlic in vinegar on the same day; by New Year it has turned jade green and goes with the dumplings. It is one of the most accessible traditions in this list, because the participation is literally being handed a bowl.