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 " were held in the twelfth lunar month when people offered their preys to the gods of heaven and earth. The Chinese characters for prey and the twelfth month 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.

　　腊八在阴历最后一个月庆祝，标志者中国新年庆祝的开始。 “腊” 在汉语中意味着阴历第十二个月，“八”意思是8。

　　这个节日起源的传说很多。其中之一认为三千多年前名叫“腊”的献祭的仪式在阴历第十二个月举行，这天，人们对天神和地神供奉猎物。在那是汉字“猎物”和第十二个月“腊”是可以相互替代的，从那时起，“腊”一直用于指二者。

　　由于这个节日在最后一个月的第八天庆祝，人们后来补充了数字8（汉语“八”）。因而有了现在的“腊八”。

　　绝大多数汉族人长期遵循在腊八节吃蜡八粥的传统。这个节日通常在阳历一月中旬来临。