A Welcome to the Year of the Fire Monkey

CEBU, Philippines - Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays and the Chinese year 4714 began yesterday, February 8, 2016. Chinese New Year's Eve is the most auspicious time of the year to hold a family reunion and eat the best food the family can buy, and drink fine wine with prayers for the family's wealth, health and happiness.

Prelude to this year's celebrations was a "Luck and Prosperity Forecast" seminar conducted by Marites Allen, the international feng shui expert, at Tin Gow Restaurant, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel. Members of the Cebu tri-media were invited, including this Writer.

Ms. Allen is the Chief Feng Sui consultant for the Philippine and United Kingdom teams offering services to an international clientele of celebrities and corporations. She has practised feng shui for the past 17 years and has been awarded the title "Master in Feng Sui." She has joined the world of fashion, since 2012, by launching her brand "Frigga" which incorporates the principle of feng shui in the design, color and fabrics, in partnership with London designers.

Her feng shui seminar in Cebu began with the first dish served - Good Luck Yee Shang (Prawn) for the Yee Shang Tossing Ceremony. Good Luck Yee Shang is salad utilizing strips of raw fish and other ingredients, and they are mixed and tossed together; the higher the toss, the bigger the fortune! It is also believed that the more expensive the fish, the more fortune will follow; lobster, salmon, abalone, prawns, even duck may be used too.

The practice of feng shui, literally meaning "wind-water," is a Chinese philosophical system of "harmonizing with the surrounding environment."

While Master Marites Allen lectured on using a compass to orient one's house and subdivide it into nine quadrants, the next two dishes were served - Fish Balls & Bean Curd Appetizers and the Crab Meat Soup with Dried Scallops.

Philosophy and mathematics always give me a headache like in my college freshman year in U.P. Diliman, and in Ms. Allen's seminar I just had to console myself with the next four dishes: Deep Fried Garoupa in Chili Sauce, Stir-fried Malaysian Chicken, Braised Pork Knuckle with Cuapao and Deep Fried Prawn with Tomato Sauce. My conclusion so far is that the Good Luck Yee Shang was the better dish.

Master Marites Allen added that you also need your birth certificate because the actual date and time of your birth are very important considerations in the application of feng shui, for auspicious results. This would be most difficult for foundlings (like Grace Poe) and World War II babies (according to Cookie Newman), because such records are nonexistent or collateral damage.

As the Kimchi Beef Fried Rice was served, Ms. Allen pointed out that the nine quadrants - white star, heavenly luck, prosperity, wealth etc. - will vary because changes are constant in the universe. Thus, the services of a fung shui master, excuse me, is a necessity to ensure that the principles of the feng shui philosophy are correctly applied.

Dessert was Ginseng with Longan & Radish and the Homemade Tikoy. The evening ended with the attendees' fervent wishes written on balloons, which were then released at the most favorable hour.  (FREEMAN)