Yee Sang - It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Yusheng literally means "raw fish" but since "fish (鱼)" is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance (余)", Yúshēng (鱼生) is interpreted as a homophone for Yúshēng (余升) meaning an increase in abundance. Therefore, yusheng is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor.
- credits wikipedia
It has become a kind of tradition for most of us to eat yee sang or lou sang during Chinese New Year and there have been a lot of adaptations as to what the yee sang would consist of--from organic versions to Vietnamese versions.
Truth be told, I'm not a fan of yee sang, but you can't deny that most traditions we keep are cultural ones, so much so that Chinese New Year wouldn't be complete without one instance of having yee sang with colleagues or even relatives.
I finally had my one and only yee sang before the end of Chinese New Year celebrations yesterday. Even though I don't fancy the dish, it's always fun to lou (mix) the yee sang as high as you can, while muttering well wishes like "May the year be prosperous", "May we earn more money", and the list goes on.
The aftermath of a lou sang session however is always messy...
Spilling is part of it and signifies an overflow in all things good for the year you see... No wait, I made that up.
Going back to CNY traditions, who would miss out the lion dance right?
Yeap, these two were in the office yesterday, making their rounds and cuddling up to people as they danced past. They were cute, and you won't believe how manja they were!
You know how usually the lions are supposed to pluck some cabbage off a string? Well looking at how it was impossible to hang up a cabbage in the office, we had the lions Cai Qing (pluck the greens) with a pineapple and orange, which are said to also have good meaning to them.
Okay let's see, there the yee sang, the lion dance and ah, food!
I think this one's more of a Malaysian tradition--whether it's a festive occasion or not, there'll always be food that we'd never pass on.
Celebrations always grow our waist by a few inches, so seeing that today's the last of the 15 days, there's no more excuse to not get off your seat and start exercising to lose the festive weight.
Jogging anyone?
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