The seventh day of the Chinese New Year is known as ren ri, the common man's birthday, It is the day when everyone is purportedly supposed to grow a year older.
On this day, the Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore like to eat yee sang. People get together to toss the colorful salad and make wishes for continued wealth and prosperity. In Cantonese “Yee” means Fish, and Sang Means “alive”; but togethier it means something like “ a growing/ prosperous life”.
This dish is popular among businesses men, the ingredients (auspicously ; either 7 or 9 in number) are served in separate piles; and are mixed together by all guests simultaneously. Each participant takes hold of a wad of the ingredients and tries to toss it as high as possible above the dish, symbolizing the high levels of prosperity to be achieved during the upcoming year. This process is called “Low Sang”; meaning “ The making of prosperity”.
Normally Yee-Sang is served as an appetizer at the beginning of a new-years feast. Many of the ingredients are symbolic, chosen for their auspicious color , (egg ; red) . Other ingredients are selected for the auspicious nature of the name, for example Pomelo in Cantonese is LOK YAO = “Rolling” +”You have it” indicating that the moment things are started, they will succeed ).
Sources:
http://www.paradasia.com/2a_Recipies_006_Yee_Sang.htm
http://chowtimes.com/2007/02/chinese_new_year_series_yee_sa.html
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