TOSSING YEE SANG

When my family had our reunion dinner or Chui Chik night (the eve of the passing year), the first dish served was the Yee Sang 鱼生. Yee Sang or Prosperity Toss is also known as lo hei in Cantonese (撈起). For my foreign visitors, the Yee Sang consists of strips of raw fish, mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments. In Cantonese Yee Sang means raw fish. . As "fish (鱼)" is considered a homophone for "abundance (余)", Yee Sang (鱼生) would have the auspicious meaning of Yee Sing (余升) meaning an increase in abundance. That is why it is such a popular dish at the start of the new year.
There is a ritual for eating Yee Sang. All involved must stand up and proceed to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks in hand. They have to say aloud Loe Sang or Loe Hei "撈起, 撈起". The higher the toss the better the fortunes for the tossers.

During the tossing of the Yee Sang for my family, Mrs Cheah sat down as she was not feeling too well.  The rest did the tossing enthusiastically as they wanted to have positive growth in the coming year.