A New Way to Lo Hei

Friday, 30th January 2009

One of the traditions that we Chinese folks carry out during the Lunar New Year is to eat raw fish salad or "yu sheng" 鱼生.

The dressing is made primarily from plum sauce, while the dish itself would typically include the following ingredients:

fresh salmon
white radish
carrot
capsicum
ginger
lime tree leaves
Chinese parsley
chopped peanuts
toasted sesame seeds
Chinese shrimp crackers
five spice powder

(Source: http://www.wikipedia.org/)

That's me pretending to wolf down the "yu sheng" :-D

In a celebration known as "lo hei" (Cantonese 撈起 or 捞起), we would gather around the table and, on cue, proceed to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying auspicious wishes out loud to mark the start of a prosperous new year.

The higher one tosses the ingredients, the greater one's fortunes. Better still, let some of the ingredients fall out of the dish as an indication of overflowing abundance.

Here is a photo of my parents-in-law, brother-in-law and nephew caught in the act of lo-hei-ing :-D

In previous years, being law-based, I would be rather sceptical about this superstitious practice and only went along with it after establishing that there were no religious connotations. I would also modify the auspicious sayings. So instead of "gong xi fa cai" 恭喜发财 (which means wishing your wealth be increased), I would instead say "en shang jia en" 恩上加恩 (which means grace added upon grace).

Well, now having been liberated and crossed over to the grace camp, I have also discovered a new way to lo hei. Read on...

At the end of last year, Ps Prince preached about "The Power of the Amen". Amen is "be it unto me" or "so be it" and that was what Mary said when the angel Gabriel told her she would be highly favoured among women and God had chosen her to carry the baby Jesus. It was also recorded in Deut 27 how the Israelites had said Amen to the curses and not to the blessings because Christ had not yet come. When we hear God's Word and we respond by saying Amen, we complete the cycle, and what is in the spiritual realm would come to pass in the physical realm.

(Do check out Terence's blog for enhanced notes on this wonderful sermon).

We can apply the same principle to these auspicious sayings by saying Amen to them, as long as these sayings are aligned with and not contrary to God's Word. And the text messages I have been receiving from fellow grace-based believers from the likes of Philip and Joshen over the past few days indicate that they do!

Check out the following, for a start...

心想事成 xin1 xiang3 shi4 cheng2
Heartfelt wishes come to pass
Ps 37:4 God will grant us the desires of our heart

万事如意 wan4 shi4 ru2 yi4
Everything ends up in success
Rom 8:28 In all things God works together for the good of those who love Him

岁岁平安 sui4 sui4 ping2 an1
Peace throughout the years
Phil 4:7 The peace of God will guard our hearts and minds in Christ

事业有成(shi4 ye4 you3 cheng2)
A prosperous and fruitful career
Jer 29:11 God knows the plans for us to prosper us and give us a future and a hope

步步高升 (bu4 bu4 gao1 sheng1)
Promotion up the ranks
Eph 2:6 God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

金玉满堂 (jin1 yu4 man3 tang2)
Golden treasures fill the house
Prov 15:6 The house of the righteous is filled with treasure

So the next time you go to lo-hei and you hear these auspicious sayings, say a loud "Amen" to agree with them and see them manifest in your life. Amen?

[Afternote: I received an sms from Geri that shows that even the desserts can have Biblical significance!]

红运当头(hong2 yun4 dang1 tou2)
Tarts with cherry tops (literal meaning: red moves one to the top)
Deut 28:13 God has made us the head and not the tail (as a result of Jesus' shed blood)

笑口常开 (xiao4 kou3 chang2 kai1)
Chinese dates stuffed with sugar (literal meaning: mouth constantly opened with laughter)
Ps 105:43 God brings His people out with rejoicing, and His chosen ones with shouts of joy