'I've never seen lo hei fly to ceiling before': Indian family of 30 rings in CNY with yusheng and hotpot

Although the Lunar New Year is traditionally a Chinese festival, a local Indian family took the opportunity to reunite and celebrate, ringing in the new year with lo hei and hotpot.  

Local content creator Abraham De Laure took to TikTok on Jan 29 to share how his Indian family of over 30 gathered to celebrate Chinese New Year.

The minute-long video, which has garnered over 500,000 views overnight, showed the lively family giving out Mandarin oranges, having yusheng and indulging in hot pot.

They made sure to shout auspicious phrases while tossing their lo hei, albeit chaotically. Abraham wittily remarked in the video: "I've never seen the lo hei fly to the ceiling before."

He told AsiaOne the idea sprung from his father and cousin.

"I've been running this series on TikTok and Instagram called My Big Fat Indian Family. Basically, I take my loud, food-obsessed, overly dramatic family members and drop them into different scenarios, like barbecues, movie nights, and holiday celebrations," he said.

"Naturally, CNY was next on the list. It's just my way of documenting the beautiful chaos that is my family, one ridiculous gathering at a time."

This is their fifth year celebrating CNY and though Abraham said they've "got it down to an art".

"It's just an excuse to link up, eat good, and remind each other that family time is everything. Even if it means fighting over the last dumpling," he said, adding that it was their first time trying yusheng which he thought was "quite good".

Family members even gave out red packets and Abraham received a few himself.

Do they plan to celebrate the upcoming Hari Raya Puasa too?

"Hands down for sure," said Abraham.

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syarifahsn@asiaone.com