LOH HEY LAR ! EVERYONE...

Some people think that Yee Sang is strictly Chinese. Well, some people are so very wrong.

Though of Chinese origin, Yee Sang is, first and foremost, a treat for the palate. It's actually a delicacy for all. How so? I'll explain. 

Anyone can enjoy it. It contains neither animal meat nor extract, save for sashimi (and that's optional). It's low on calories and settles easily on the stomach. (It has to be, since it's an appetiser!)

If you're a health freak and a confirmed vegetarian, fine! Just forego the sashimi and everything else is of botanic origin, the sauce included. 

Yee Sang is also good news for those who are weight-conscious. There's precious little carbohydrate and fat to provide unwanted calories. Imagine demolishing a whole plate of yummy eatables and not being bothered as to what it'll do to your waistline.

And if you've never tried Yee Sang before, all I have to say is - you don't know what you've been missing. Let me try to describe it for you.

Basically, it's a salad. Everything's in thin slices and small pieces. You don't have to do any cooking, heating or chilling - "instant" is the word. All you need to do is place the ingredients on a plate, pour the sauce over it and stir thoroughly.

It's crispy, crunchy, a little sweet, a little tangy, with its unique flavour settling beautifully on your tongue. Maybe I'll just use one word to describe the experience - SLURP! 

You don't have to bother with chopsticks if you're not used to them. Use a fork, spoon or ladle to stir and mix. Heck, you can use your fingers if you want to - the taste remains the same. Just remember to blend the sauce well with the ingredients.

And if you want to "Loh Hey" like the Chinese, just say: "May (whatever it is you want) come my way!" Then toss the ingredients high in the air and let them fall back on the plate. 

That's all there is to it? You bet.

-BOLDWRITER-

LOH HEY...WISHING FOR JUST ABOUT ANYTHING

I know most people just shout "Loh Hey" when they toss Yee Sang in the air with their chopsticks. But "Loh Hey" merely means "toss high". That's not a wish! It's a mere exclamation like "Yam Seng" which you make on an appropriate occasion.

Loh Hey goes much deeper in meaning and philosophy. For one thing, the ritual is invariably carried out among close family members and loved ones. And it's done during the New Year festive season, a season of good cheer and hope.

There are a set of standard wishes folks make when they toss the Yee Sang high in the air with shouts and laughter. The popular ones are for domestic happiness, a carefree life, freedom from obstacles, filial piety, youthful looks, perpetual bliss, a happy and easygoing existence, a safe and happy life - and plentiful income (let's not forget THIS last wish).

However, there are no hard and fast rules as to what you may ask for. The abovementioned list is but a set of standard wishes people make, NOT a set formula to follow.

When you Loh Hey, you can utter aloud whatever desire there is in your heart. Perhaps you want your newly-formed business to do well? Then shout out loud, "May my business prosper!"

Or if your concern is about the major exams your son has to sit for at the end of the year, then wish that he will come through with flying colours.

Just keep your words (and your train of thought) auspicious. Remember that the dish on the table before you is Yee Sang, the emblem of good luck that a new year brings.

As for me, each time I make a SPRING TOSS (what a poetic way to describe Loh Hey), I hope that the fresh season will bring blessings and opportunities for all. The success you achieve depends on the kind of effort you put in.

Now, THAT'S pretty fair by any reckoning, don't you think?


BOLDWRITER

TOSS HIGH AND WISH!

Some years ago, an American friend of mine who was here on vacation, joined me and a group of other friends for a Yee Sang treat.

The Yee Sang dish was the appetiser. First the thick, treacly sauce was poured over the ingredients. Then everyone stood up to "Loh Hey". (You have to stand up when you "Loh Hey". Take it from me, half the fun and the spirit of the occasion are gone if you sit down and do it.)

Bemused, my American friend asked me what it was all about. I explained to her that the ritual was an invocation of good fortune and a wish for the myriad blessings the New Year could bring. Everyone at table invited her to join in and she was most eager to.

Unfortunately, she wasn't quite at home with a pair of chopsticks. Could she use her spoon, she wanted to know. No way. The ingredients would slither off. What about a fork? Nope, the thin slivers would get caught between the tines. 

It had to be chopsticks to make the ritual genuinely, authentically Chinese. Using a fork or spoon to Loh Hey would have been like putting the Queen of England in a cheongsam. Not a winning combination, sad to say.

Since it would take too long to teach my American friend the art of using a pair of chopsticks (and we were all famished), we did the next best thing. We improvised. While I "Loh Hey-ed" she placed her palm over the back of my hand. That way, she sort of participated in the Loh Hey ritual too, in a vicarious manner. How romantic, did you say? Hardly. She was a Catholic nun.

But to get back to Loh Hey. The Chinese believe that the higher you toss, the greater the luck that comes your way. But you have to shout when you Loh Hey. Voice out loud what it is you wish for and fill the air with merriment and laughter. That's the way to create the true spirit of Loh Hey. Never mind the neighbours. They'll probably be having their own Yee Sang party.

One practical explanation for the practice of Loh Hey is that it helps the sauce to blend well with the ingredients. That's why the slivers of food are tossed high, and not once but several times.

But there's one lovely and meaningful interpretation of the Loh Hey ritual which I once heard and which I'd now like to share with you. According to this version, when you toss the ingredients high, you lift them towards Heaven, that source from which all blessings come. It's an offering you make to Heaven before you yourself consume the dish. Then, when you utter your wish with all your heart, Heaven hears and responds. 

But wish for something sensible. If you're tone-deaf, for instance, and you aspire to step into Celine Dion's shoes, your wish might be more than even Heaven can manage.

When you Loh Hey, wish for something you can believe in, something that can come about in your life. Then practice the virtue of patience, and before the year is out, what you desire may just come to you.


-BOLDWRITER-

Who Says It's Old Hat???

How can anything be old hat when it's faithfully observed from one year to another, and from one generation to the next? It's alive, it's vital, it's ... well, if not hip, at least cool.

Before I go any further - and before you get even more muddled - let me explain what I'm talking about. Tradition. That link between the past, the present and the future. Every race and every culture has them. 

Talking about traditions brings to mind those observed during Chinese New Year. 

The one I'm fondest of is the tradition of Loh Hey and the eating of Yee Sang, where all family members gather round the dining-table and have fun tossing the Yee Sang high in the air before eating it, with shouts of good wishes for the New Year.

As an uninformed but inquisitive child I often wondered why the family dined on Yee Sang on the seventh day of the New Year. 

A kindly great grand-aunt undertook to enlighten me. According to her, the world, and everything else that exists, were created by the goddess Nu Wa a long, long time ago. On the seventh day of her construction work (no, the goddess didn't need a developer's licence), Nu Wa created mankind. To commemorate this day, known as Renri (also called as human day), everybody feasted on the dish known as Yee Sang. 

Years later, I picked up a copy of "The Origins of Chinese Festivals" (printed by Asiapac) and found that my great grand-aunt was not guilty of invention. The myth was exactly as she had told it. 

Wanting to know more about Yee Sang, I did a little research. It seems its tradition  goes all the way back to the era of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279 A.D.). It was started by the fisherfolk who lived in the province of Guangzhou, along the southern coastline of China. 

Those folks celebrated the common birthday of all humanity in their own way. They had a slap-up feed by feasting on their own catch. That probably explains why folks today still have a hankering for sashimi in their Yee Sang.

To lend more variety to their Yee Sang, those fisherfolk added pickles and vegetables. Then they poured over the ingredients a  dressing made up of vinegar, oil and plum sauce. A far cry from the delectable concoctions of Spring Toss.

One aspect of the enjoyment of Yee Sang has survived the ages. What they did back then in the good old days, we do now in the new hip age. If you haven't guessed, I'm talking about the Loh Hey ritual, that endearing practice of tossing the ingredients high and wishing for New Year Blessings. 

Personally, I can't think of any happier way to usher in a New Year than to "Loh Hey" with your loved ones. The only thing that can beat Loh Hey is when all those yummy Yee Sang ingredients pass your lips and settle on your tongue and ... I think I'd better stop. It's not Renri yet, but I'm craving for Yee Sang so badly I keep seeing pickles, crackers and sashimi on my monitor!

- BOLDWRITER -