Temple dishes out congee and festival blessings
Volunteers serve bowls of hot Laba porridge at the Jade Buddha Temple on Thursday morning.
Over a thousand residents waited outside the Jade Buddha Temple on Thursday to eat Laba congee for the traditional Laba Festival.
Temple monks and volunteers began dishing out 3,000 bowls of hot Laba porridge to the public from 9:30am, while the earliest resident came to wait in front of the temple from 3am. Most of the visitors were seniors. Some also took congee home to their relatives.
Laba refers to the eighth day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar. The festival has been celebrated for some 1,500 years.
Laba Festival is also an important event in Buddhism, marking the enlightenment day of the Buddha. Temples offer porridge to the public to commemorate the Buddha and deliver his blessings.
According to traditional Chinese custom, eating Laba congee is meant to bring abundance and a good harvest.
As Laba falls in the last lunar month, it serves as a prelude to the Lunar New Year, which will start on January 25 this year. The recipe for congee varies, but the traditional dish usually contains grain, dried lotus seeds, longan, gingko, dried red dates and other ingredients.
The temple has been distributing Laba congee for the festival since 2009. Additional servings were given out to 2,000 seniors at nursing homes in Putuo, Jing’an and Changning districts on Thursday.
Volunteers dish out free Laba porridge to the public at Jade Buddha Temple on Thurday morning.
Residents wait in a long line outside the Jade Buddha Temple on Thursday to eat Laba congee for the traditional Laba Festival.
