ക RÉNRI ( 人日 ) ~ Human Day, 7th Day of CNY

Happy Birthday Everybody..

Renrì (Chinese:人日, literally Human Day) falls on the 7th day of zhengyue 正月 aka Chinese New Year, the first month in the Chinese calendar). According to legend, the custom dates back to the Han Dynasty, and gained importance after The Three Kingdoms period and Jin Dynasty. Hence, Chinese tradition set the first day of zhengyue as the "birthday" of chicken, the second day of zhengyue as the birthday of dog, etc. And the seventh day of zhengyue is viewed as the common "birthday" of all human beings.

On this special "birthday" Yúshēng is often served as part of a multi-dish dinner, usually as the appetizer due to its symbolism of "good luck" for the new year. Some would consume it on Renri day itself, although in practice it may be eaten on any convenient day. Yúshēng literally means "raw fish" but since "fish(鱼)"{yú} is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance(余)" {yú}, just as "raw(生)" {shēng} with "increase(升)" {shēng}. So Yúshēng (鱼生) is interpreted as a homophone for Yúshēng (余升) meaning an increase in abundance. Therefore, yúshēng is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor. Yúshēng is often served as part of a multi-dish dinner, usually as the appetizer due to its symbolism of "good luck" for the new year. Some would consume it on Renri, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, although in practice it may be eaten on any convenient day.  The contemporary version of 鱼生 {yúshēng} raw fish is created and popularised in both Malaysia and Singapore in the early 60's amongst the ethnic Chinese community. Surprisingly it is not popular in Taiwan & Hong Kong for them to "lo hei" Cantonese for 撈起 or Yee Sang. [Wikipedia]

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Make a wish while tossing the 'raw fish' 鱼生 {yúshēng} in the air with chopsticks while saying "auspicious wishes" (吉祥话 or Jíxiáng Huà) such as Nian Nian You Yu (年年有余) as the word Yu (余), which means "surplus" or "abundance", sounds the same as the Chinese word for fish (yu, 鱼). The Secret to opening new doors of prosperity to attracting more in your life is in the height. It is believed that the height of the toss reflects the height of the dinner's growth in fortunes, thus diners are expected to toss enthusiastically. Check it out on Foongpc for Yúshēng served in nice lacquer dish and Iamthewitch cute tigers cup cakes guarding the Yúshēng. The long 1 hour 40 mins wait for the next dish after Yúshēng was tossed for Merryn and the latest from Wenn.

Image courtesy of millionface.com

On the same  token of RÉN 人 the above picture is the RÉN building created specifically for Shanghai's World Expo 2010. A very meaningful concept of a man walking with one foot on water which is the first building and the other foot on land represented by second building forming a Chinese character for the word 人 (”Ren”) People. The building becomes a recognizable landmark for the World Expo in China. 

Disclaimer: In this entry some could be facts or probably legend. Being a Bananaz all my references are from hearsay and internet search. You must be wondering what's this nice *ahem* Bananaz doing in a blog like this who does not read and write Chinese?

Answer: Simply becoz this Bananaz is finding its roots deeper and hopefully to be able to share with fellow Bananaz or those who are interested to know more about Chinese traditions and customs. Also would sincerely appreciate any feedback or any corrections for errors made. tQ

Posted in: REN Building,Renri,Yusheng