中国农历腊月最重大的节日，是农历十二月称腊月，十二月初八，古代称为“腊日”，俗称"腊八节"。从先秦起，腊八节都是用来祭祀祖先和神灵，祈求丰收和吉祥。据说，佛教创始人释迦牟尼的成道之日也在十二月初八，因此腊八也是佛教徒的节日，称为"佛成道节"，春节习俗之腊八节双语介绍：

The Laba Festival falls on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. This holiday may be traced back to the ancient Chinese custom of sacrificing game to the ancestors during the last month of the lunar year. Following the ritual, the participants feasted together on the sacrificial meat in an early expression of the Chinese tradition of communal eating. The Laba Festival is popularly referred to as Laji Festival (End-of-Year Sacrifice Festival), another indication of its ancient origins and association with early sacrificial rituals. It is also said that Sakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. As a result, with the introduction of Buddhism to China, the Laba Festival also became known as the Day of Enlightenment.