Wuxi residents celebrate the traditional Laba Festival

Taoyuan village, Yangshan, Wuxi, where Yangshan honey peaches are grown, celebrated the traditional Laba Festival on Jan 24. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Taoyuan village, Yangshan, Wuxi, where Yangshan honey peaches are grown, celebrated the traditional Laba Festival on Jan 24.

The Laba Festival is a traditional Chinese holiday, and due to Buddhist influence, it is celebrated on the eighth day of the La month (the 12th lunar month), and many of the festival's customs are directly related to Buddhism.

On the day of the festival, people will make tasty pots of porridge with mixed grains and corns, peanuts, chestnuts, dates and lotus seeds. This dish is a staple of the Spring Festival. In the north, it's considered a dessert and sugar is added; in the south, salt is added instead.

Apart from Laba porridge, residents in Taoyuan village also made rice dumplings, wrote spring scrolls, and performed the dragon dance, attracting tourists from all over the city.

The residents of Taoyuan village are descendants of Zhou Dunyi, a famous author during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The village's traditional culture has been passed down and developed since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Taoyuan village is famous not only for its honey peaches, but also its traditional Spring Festival activities.