Buddhist temple in Sichuan offers ceremonial congee to celebrate traditional Laba Festival

Wenshu Monastery, a Buddhist temple in Chengdu City in southwest China's Sichuan Province, offered ceremonial congee to visitors on Tuesday to celebrate the traditional Laba Festival.

Falling on the eighth day of the 12th lunar month, the Laba Festival is commonly celebrated by cooking and eating congee made of at least eight ingredients like rice, red beans, peanuts, dry-dates, and lotus seeds.

Chengdu's Wenshu Monastery has a history of more than 1,000 years. This year, the temple has prepared 350,000 cups of congee for locals and tourists, served from Sunday to Tuesday.

The thick porridge is distributed for free as a symbol of good fortune for the upcoming spring.

"I didn't expect that I could celebrate the festival in the temple. But I happened to notice the temple was offering congee for free when walking on the street, so I dropped by. I feel warm after eating the congee, and everyone was lining up in a good manner, which in my opinion reflects how people greatly value this festival," said A Yishi, a tourist from southwest China's Yunnan Province.

"It's not salty at all, and it looks like oatmeal. So I think that it's not bad. Actually, we were looking for places to visit in Chengdu and this was one of the recommended ones because of the Buddhism culture. But we didn't know that there is a tradition about food and everything. So that's why we wanted to discover it even more," said Rafael Adrian, a visitor from Spain.

The Laba Festival has been widely celebrated in China since the Song Dynasty (960-1279), more than 1,000 years ago. Aside from eating congee, eating Laba garlic and a thorough house cleaning are also part of the festival's traditions.

Buddhist temple in Sichuan offers ceremonial congee to celebrate traditional Laba Festival

Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez said on Sunday that the country is at a critical stage and must achieve national unity, emphasizing that maintaining internal cohesion is of utmost importance.

In a televised address, Rodriguez called on the public to continue trusting the government under the current highly complex political circumstances.

Her statement comes in the wake of a January 3 military operation conducted by the United States, during which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were taken into custody and flown out of the country.

The operation resulted in at least 100 fatalities.

Rodriguez, who was sworn in as acting president two days later on January 5, framed her appeal for unity against this backdrop of external intervention.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information Freddy Nanez denounced the U.S. actions as a "war crime of the 21st century" when speaking at an international cultural event on Sunday.

Nanez condemned not only the January 3 airstrikes but also the associated cyber and electromagnetic attacks.

He accused the United States of violating international law through the forced removal of President Maduro and his wife, while attacks on civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities, represent a flagrant breach of humanitarian norms.

He reiterated that the stigmatization and military attacks against Venezuela are driven by economic interests, particularly the desire to control its abundant natural resources.

Venezuelan acting president calls for national unity amid complex situation