An event marking the Laba Festival was held Tuesday morning at the Beijing Folklore Museum in Chaoyang district. 

The Laba Festival, which falls on Jan.7 this year, is considered a prelude to the Spring Festival, the most important festival in the Chinese calendar. 

Three major customs associated with Laba Festival are ancestor worship, eating Laba porridge and making Laba garlic. 

The distribution of Laba porridge at the museum helped to enhance the festive atmosphere. Eating Laba porridge on this day is an established tradition, believed to bring good fortune, longevity, and a bountiful harvest. The porridge traditionally includes at least eight ingredients, such as glutinous rice, red beans, millet, sorghum, peas, dried lotus seeds, and red beans.

Despite the winter chill, tourists and residents alike queued up at the Dongyue Temple for the porridge. 

"Dongyue Temple has the tradition of sharing Laba porridge on Laba Festival," said Shen Yi from the Beijing Folklore Museum. "In addition to the eight ingredients that symbolize auspice and harvest, we also restored the ancient custom of presenting 'guoshi,' which literally means 'fruit lion.' Dried fruits in the shape of a small lion are placed on top of the porridge in order to attract good fortune and dispel evil."

Dried fruits in the shape of a small lion are placed on top of the porridge to attract good fortune and dispel evil. [Photo by Fu Junhua/China.org.cn]