Yee Sang. A messy Malaysian ritual.

Overeating is probably the most popular of countless Chinese New Year traditions.

Second comes the Red Packet or Ang Pow that promotes greed among kids.

Then, arguably third, is Yee Sang - the Chinese-style Raw Fish Salad that includes in its countless ingredients the crunchy munchies made from flour, colourful fresh and pickled vegetable strips, pomelo pulps, jelly fish strips (optional), salmon sashimi or (originally) raw mackerel slices, and/or fresh abalone slices (optional), and topped by finely crushed peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, sour plum and sweet sauces, sesame oil and/or vegetable oil...

The tricky part is the 'tossing' or 'lo hei' of a Yee Sang dish, as demonstrated in the following video.



It is a ritual performed by family members and close friends before a reunion dinner, or any meal within the 15 days of Chinese New Year, standing up, with chopsticks in hand, muttering well-wishes and auspicious phrases as the raw fish salad is tossed.

The higher the ingredients go, the better the luck for the year.