Pencil Shavings

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Yu Sheng for Christians

Singaporeans eat a lot of Yu Sheng during Chinese New Year. Yu Sheng is a salad of shredded carrots, cucumber and various spices, crackers and plum sauce, topped with slivers of raw fish. I love the taste of Yu Sheng, but it is not for how it tastes that Chinese people eat it. It is because of what it symbolises.

If you go to a restaurant, the waitress will speak many auspicious words as she pours each ingredient on the plate. I'm always very bemused at how good and lucky everything sounds and how each auspicious word is matched with an appropriate ingredient. For example, when she pours in the sweet plum sauce, she says, “甜甜密密” (sweet and intimate); when you pours out the crispy crackers, she says, "财源滚滚" (wealth rolls down).

After every auspicious ingredient is on the plate, every one at the table takes his chopsticks and tosses the salad, the higher the better, symbolising better things to come. (步步高升: rising higher).

It is all very fun and interesting, except that some of the words will make a Christian uncomfortable. Stuff like 金银满屋 (gold that fills the house) or 满地黄金 (gold all over the floor), or even 大吉大利 (to be very auspicious) or 恭喜发财 (get rich). So I decided to try my hand at writing my own script for Yu Sheng, with (a lot of) help from my dad.

What to say while serving Yu Sheng
Place Yu Sheng on table: 主恩满溢 and 万事神意
Add limejuice: 年年蒙恩
Add raw fish: 福杯满溢 and 龙马精神
Add five-spice powder, peanuts: 主内平安 and 年年有余
Add crackers: 年年快乐 and 原主带领

Rough translations:
主恩满溢: Abundant grace
万事神意: Everything in God's will
年年蒙恩: Blessed by God yearly
福杯满溢 : Abundant blessings
龙马精神: Good health
主内平安: Peace in Christ
年年有余: Abundance
年年快乐 : Happiness
原主带领: God's guidance

Any suggestions for improvement?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen.

Sounds delicious.

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