This practice later developed to a custom of eating 'laba congee' (congee eaten on the 8th day of the 12th lunar month) on December 8 (old calendar), which is made from rice, azuki beans and several kinds of grains and nuts, and in the southern China of the Six Dynasties period people ate bean porridge on January 15 (old calendar) according to the "Xingchu suishiji" (an almanac of events in life in the Xingchu region in China).
後にこの風習が発達して12月8日(旧暦)には米と小豆ほか複数の穀物や木の実を入れた「臘八粥」（ろうはちがゆ）というものが食せられ、六朝時代の中国南部では1月15日(旧暦)に豆粥が食せられた（『荊楚歳時記』）。