Today is laba festival (8th day of the 12th month of the lunar calendar). My colleague from work brought this to my attention and gave me an education. This day in the lunar calendar is considered the coldest, which is why they eat special congee to warm the body. I think they are right, it was very cold yesterday in the teens and has been like this since my return to Beijing.
On this day it is a custom to make congee (porridge) out of 8 ingredients (there is that number 8 'ba', again) and eat with the family. The laba contains glutinous rice, red beans, millet, sorghum, peas, dried lotus seeds, and maybe some other ingredients like dried dates or nuts. Another word used for the congee is babao (eight treasures). This is a Buddhist tradition and they were serving free congee at the Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing.
Here is more information on the festival if interested: laba festival
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