腊月初八，我国人民有吃腊八粥习俗。据说腊八粥传自印度，和佛教始祖释迦牟尼有关。释迦牟尼本是古印度北部迦毗罗卫国（今尼泊尔境内）净饭王的儿子，他见众生受生老病死等痛苦折磨，又不满当时婆罗门的神权统治，舍弃王位，出家修道。初无收获，后经六年苦行，于腊月八日在菩提树下悟道成佛。在这六年苦行中，每日仅食一麻一米。后人不忘他所受的苦难，于每年腊月初八吃粥以做纪念。“腊八”就成了“佛祖成道纪念日”。腊八粥在古时是用红小豆、糯米煮成，现在在中国各地腊八粥的花样，争奇竞巧，品种繁多。
Laba is celebrated on the eighth day of the last lunar month, referring to the traditional start of celebrations for the Chinese New Year. "La" in Chinese means the 12th lunar month and "ba" means eight.
Legends about the origin of this festivity abound. One holds that over 3,000 years ago sacrificial rites called "La "(腊) were held in the twelfth lunar month when people offered their preys to the gods of heaven and earth. The Chinese characters for prey (猎物) and the twelfth month (腊) were interchangeable then, and ever since "La" has been used to refer to both.
Since the festival was held on the eighth day of the Last month, people later appended the number eight ("ba" in Chinese), giving us the current Laba .
The majority Han Chinese have long followed the tradition of eating Laba rice porridge on the Laba Festival. The date usually falls in mid-January.