Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Human Day 2008 - Wordless Wednesday

Happy Birthday to Every Human!

On the 7th day of our Lunar New Year, it is known as ren ri (人日), literally translated it means Humans' Day. According to our Chinese customs, it is the day when humans were created.

The story I heard from my grandmother was : On the first day, the Goddess nuwa (女媧) created chicken, second day was dog, third day was pig, fourth day was sheep, fifth day was cow, sixth day was horse, seventh day was human, eighth day was cereal, ninth day was sky and the tenth day earth. Since the first few days are birthdays of animals, we avoid killing them on their respective birthdays and we have a vegetarian dish on the 7th day.


For my family who are Teochews, we will have a traditional 7-vegetable dish (七样羹) on that day. We buy 7 types of vegetables and cook them together. These vegetables combined together makes an auspicious dish. Different dialect groups would cook different types of vegetables.

Many Singaporean Chinese families don't observe the traditional custom of this day now. For those who do, they would use the colourful yu-sheng dish (raw fish) to replace the 7-vegetable dish.

Singaporean Chinese use 7-colour sliced fish (七彩魚生) instead of 7-vegetable dish.


潮州七样羹是︰大(芥)菜、高合、芹菜、蒜、春菜、韭菜、芥兰 .... 等蔬菜同煮,寄寓“新(芹)春发(蒜)大财(大菜),久(韭)合各人(芥兰)”的吉祥彩语。

客家人用芹菜、蒜、葱、芫茜、韭菜加鱼、肉等;

台湾、福建用菠菜、芹菜、葱蒜、韭菜、芥菜、荠菜、白菜等。其中芹菜和 葱兆聪明,蒜兆精于算计,芥菜令人长寿,如此种种。


For WW members who comment, please post your link here so I can return your visit.
SPAM will be deleted.







62 comments:

  1. Happy Human's Day to you ECL! :)

    Happy WW

    ReplyDelete
  2. The last photo looks like an assortment of colored noodles :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those dishes are very colorful...and I think it's nice to have a Human Day.


    Dallas Daily Photo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Yan Yat! (I nearly forgot.. but nothing much to celebrate also for me..)

    Yes, I'm back to work liao today.. takes a few days to kickstart the human engine after one week no work... aihhh.. i hate the feelin... but, all good things must come to an end...

    Aisay.. how come today i so serious geh.. sumting not right hehe..

    Again, rest well ohh!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the history and culture lessons we always get on your site!!! And the pictures are beautiful, too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy day to you and I hope all your celebrations are going well!

    ReplyDelete
  7. San Yat Fai Lok!!!

    7 Veg or Yu-shang all also I want to masuk inside my tummy :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. What happened to The Rest Day?!!!

    No church, eh? I guess not.. Too many animals..

    Happy Human Day!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. So chickens were created on the first day ah? serious??
    Happy human day!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Humans' Day to you! Thanks for sharing this custom with the picture. You taught me something wonderful. God bless.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Newbie - thank you for the insight.
    Best wishes

    ReplyDelete
  12. Interesting post here! Love the colorful dishes too:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. First - never noticed your pic b4 - you're a very pretty lady!

    Second - love the post. Food looks scrumptious too :) Happy WW.

    ReplyDelete
  14. eastcoast, Have I said Happy New Year to you? Well, Happy New Year! I love learing all this new info about your holiday and customs! :) Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love your pictures!!! So very colourful... Yummy-looking plate of food too :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Happy Human's Day. The veggies look great too. Have a great WW. :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. here's to all human being!
    thanks for sharing this info. i want to taste the 7-fish dish.

    Morning Sniffles

    ReplyDelete
  18. Happy Human's Day! Love reading this post, reminds me I'm one! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Happy Humans Day!! Ho Ho Ho! Btw, how did your CNY celebration go?

    ReplyDelete
  20. I've had my fill of yu sheng already even tho it's only the 7th day. More coming... :D

    ReplyDelete
  21. Happy Human's day to you as well.
    love the colorful dish.
    Happy WW!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Beautiful, vibrant photos. Happy Humans Day to you too!

    ReplyDelete
  23. ECL!!! Ren Ri we all age 1 year older hor? I thought the older the wiser? How come I sooooo goondu today?!?!

    See my "goondu-ness" here.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Oh I didn't know got such a custom. Glad you share this with us. ECL, you teochew ar? My mum also teochew leh. Hehehehe

    ReplyDelete
  25. What an adorable use ! I come over and invite myself, the plate looks soo delicious ! BTW I am a sheep, lol !

    ReplyDelete
  26. What an interesting ww!! I didn't know all this, I am a chicken :)
    Happy ww!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Happy Birthday!!

    thanks for sharing the story with me.

    Darn! I think I didn't luo hei this year!!! Siao liao!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Hi! Thanks for sharing this! Very informative!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Happy Human's Day! The veggies look so colorful, and yummy.

    ReplyDelete
  30. This is a fascinating post. I love learning things. Although, I eat lots of vegetables already, its nice to discover new ones. The colors and textures of veggies on this post are very inviting. Many happy returns to you.

    ReplyDelete
  31. It's a very colorful dish. Happy Human's Day to you.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Thanks for sharing Human's Day. Happy WW.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I miss the Yusheng... maybe will cut some veg and toss it around...

    ReplyDelete
  34. wow...it's the first time i heard about this!! coolie!!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Very good info. Just learned from your blog.... keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Thanks for the wonderful info. That 7 vegetable dish seem yummy :)

    Hope your CNY was a blast. Take care!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Aw those are lovely kids, and i can tell that the food is some kinda yummy. Happy Valentine's day!
    Hair Cut or Life Cut?
    My Little Funny Boy

    ReplyDelete
  38. Thank you for this really interesting and informative post. I love learning about other cultures.

    Great photos as well.

    Happy WW.

    ReplyDelete
  39. gorgeous photos, thanks for sharing.

    happy Human Day 2008

    Mine is up at 4SeasonsOfMyLife
    Hope to see you too. Happy Wordless Wednesday.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Ohh I never heard of this one before,but I think its a pretty neat tradition... happy human Day and valentines day too..

    ReplyDelete
  41. I must admit, I did learn something new and very fascinating here. Thanks for bringing this wisdom to the world.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Oh happy Humans day and happy valentine's day as well. The dish looks so delicous!! i just love asian food, made some today. Wish you could come and teach me!

    ReplyDelete
  43. Ah! So you don't update every day?
    Best wishes

    ReplyDelete
  44. I had no idea there was such a holiday. Thanks for all the information and enjoy your special dish.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Hey, that is very informative. I certainly forgot all about Goddess Nuwa already.

    On the 8th day you said "cereal". Is that the Angmo cereal I eat every morning?

    Me blur leh ...

    ReplyDelete
  46. I heard that story about how "yan yatt" came about too. Happy Belated Human Day! did you have one vegetarian dish at least?

    ReplyDelete