腊八节相关英语作文：腊八节喝腊八粥的习俗

2012腊八节将至，腊八节是中国人自己的节日，用英语写一篇作文简单的向外国人介绍腊八节的由来和喝腊八粥的习俗。民间称：腊八一过就像过年，因为腊八过后，农民开始正式的闲下来，没事情做就置办年货准备过年，所以年味一天比一天浓，本非过年但似过年。
Tomorrow is the eighth day of the 12th lunar month on the traditional Chinese calendar. It is also the Laba Festival, in Chinese, Laba means ‘gold eighth’ and refers to the traditional start of celebrations for the Chinese New Year.
On this day a special hot rice porridge, called Laba Zhou, is eaten, which contains glutinous rice, red beans, millet, Chinese sorghum, peas and some other ingredients, such as dried dates, chestnut meat, walnut meat, almond, peanut, dried lotus seeds and etc. Eating porridge on Laba is believed to bring good fortune in the New Year. The flavor varies from place to place, in the North, it is a dessert with sugar added; in the South, salt and seasonal vegetables are put in.
This tradition has its roots in the Buddhist faith. It is said when Sakyamuni left home and strived for virtue, he fainted on the way because of hunger and tiredness. A shepherdess passing by saved him and cooked for him some porridge with glutinous rice and nuts. Then Sakyamuni sat under a bodhi tree in meditation and found Buddhism. So later the believers formed the habit of cooking Laba Zhou to commemorate it.