Dear ccfong.com, why do Chinese believe that when a person is drown and gone missing in the big sea, they can find and retrieve the body by throwing a watermelon? Why watermelon and not banana, pineapples and durians?

In this story, I will write about the theory behind this phenomenon and reason behind this watermelon throwing into the sea to retrieve a lost body.

Before I start, if anyone wants to throw durians, please tell me. Can throw at me, I don’t mind. Best is Mao Shan Huang. D24 also can lah.

The phenomenon – When a body is drown and lost into the sea, throw a watermelon (after being empowered by a Taoist priest) into the sea. Within few minutes, the body floats up near to the watermelon.

This story will look into the spiritual way of explaining this phenomenon as it is quite difficult to explain it in scientific way. Of course, you may treat this story as a fiction.

Humans like you and me, we live on land. Somehow we are being governed by the law of nature – land. In the sea / ocean, it is another world of its own and is being governed by another set of law of nature – sea. If a human is drown in the middle of the sea, normally the sea will somehow retain the body. Literally translated, the nature of sea probably wants to “examine” or “keep” the human body. Something like that as we the land creatures and they the sea creatures are in different territories.

Why watermelon?

Well, it gotta play with the colours. Normal watermelon is green on its surface and red inside. Here it means that green symbolically represent earth that is our human body. Why is this so, imagine if a person passes on, the body is buried underground and it will decomposed and return back to the soil. Thus human body is somehow related to soil and thus earth represent body and hence green coloured watermelon skin represents human body.

In our human body, we have a huge component of blood in the body. Blood = red  also = the inside of the watermelon.

Having said this, watermelon somehow represents a human body with blood in it.

Now we have to have this watermelon empowered by an expert – normally a Taoist priest. This expert will somehow perform rituals first to link the heaven, earth and sea and somehow have the earth (land) and sea connected.

After the connection, the priest will somehow “engrave” a message in the watermelon stating “Dear sea, please release the body of so and so”. After which, the priest will ask the relative / kin of the drowned body to hold the watermelon. At this point, it is said that the relative will somehow pass this “qi” of kinship (of the drowned body) into the watermelon.

Then the relative throws the watermelon into the sea.

In the sea point of view, it is like a message to the sea that “we, humans, apologise to disturb your peace and nature of your (the sea) environment. As we have a lost body in your territory, may we humbly seek your permission and kind understanding to release the body belonging from our territory. With thanks.”

After several minutes or so, the lost drowned body will float up and surface at a distance near to the watermelon. Then the body is found and being retrieved back to our territory.

So this is roughly how it works and the theory behind it.

Well, watermelons are also good for us as it has cooling effect especially after we eat durians.

So, durians anyone? Remember to contact me for a durian feast. Hehehehehehe! Yummy

Please stay tuned for more durians (sorry is) stories.

As at for now this is Fong Chun Cheong, praying for more durians from you (as shown in the picture above), signing off…

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