Chin prepares the ingredients for the Hakka traditional Lei Cha.
MIRI: Not many Chinese, particularly the younger generation, can claim they can prepare special meals for their families to celebrate ‘Day of Humankind’ which fell Thursday.
The special day known as ‘Renri’ which is celebrated on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year is regarded as the common birthday of humans according to ancient Chinese tale.
According to a Chinese community leader in Niah, Penghulu Haw Min Wai, it is a day for the Chinese to celebrate the birth of human beings.
“According to the Chinese mythology, a goddess created animals on different days, with human beings created on the seventh day after the creation of the world.
“Thus, the Chinese celebrate the seventh day of the Lunar New Year as the birthday for all human beings,” he said when met Thursday.
Haw said not many Chinese nowadays care to prepare special meals to celebrate this day. For the Hakka, it’s common for them to eat ‘Lei Cha’, a concortion of traditional pounded tea, on this special day.
“Lei Cha is a vegetarian traditional delicacy which consists of tea leaves and herbs that are pounded and mixed with various roasted nuts, seeds, grains and other condiments.
“The most difficult part in the preparation is the herbs. You have to know the propotion of each herb to make the soup base otherwise your ‘Lei Cha’ would taste weird.”
Haw thus said he would only buy ready-made ‘Lei Chai’ from a food stall in Batu Niah to take home and enjoy with his family.
A housewife, Chin Nyuk Lan, is another old-timer who made it a point to prepare the special meal of Lei Cha for her family, relatives and friends.
The 69-year-old Hakka woman prepared the ‘Lei Cha’ ingredients from scratch. She has planted several types of herbs for ‘lei cha’ in her backyard.
“Common herbs like mint and basil can be easily obtained from the market. However, there are certain herbs that you cannot buy, and you have to grow them.”
She admitted that nowadays the Chinese prefer to buy ready-made Lei Cha from the market instead of making the meal themselves.
Although prices for the fresh ingredient is a bit expensive during Chinese New Year celebration, she said she enjoyed making the meal and sharing it with her family.