Today is the final day of the 15-day Chinese New Year celebration which started on January 28. How time flies when you are having a good time, doesn't it? Yep, I hope you all had a wonderful time this year.
There's a name given to this day, the last of the 15th. It is known here as Chap Goh Meh, literally means the 15th day in the Hokkien and Teochew dialects. Duh!
Chinese merry-making and activities relating to all things Chinese New Year ends midnight tonight, ie, as of tomorrow, we move on into the Rooster year like normal days - no more Yee Sang (the speciality raw fish salad dish), no more hong pao (red envelopes), no more lavish dinners (at exorbitant prices, I might add), done with hosting and visiting relatives, New Year decorations can be taken down, the human exodus back to the city would have been completed (perhaps a week ago), life is back to normal, you know what I mean.
So here's wishing..
To round up the Chinese New Year celebration, families will gather once again for a final round of Chinese New Year dinner feast - of Yee Sang and all food synonymous with the CNY.
Oh yes, there's one activity that's related to this Chap Goh Meh and that is tossing oranges into a lake or a body of water. This is only meant for single ladies and is a tradition from the old days in China.
This tossing of oranges is done with the belief of hitching up with a good partner ending in wedded bliss. In these modern times, contact information is also spelled out on the orange. This activity begins as night falls. It's done on a large scale in the Klang Valley, Penang and Malacca. But of course it can be performed anywhere where there's a sizeable body of water. It's fun to watch. (The cleaning up the day after is something else though.)
Let me update this post with a short video of an orange-tossing event that took place last night at a lake at Taman Jaya.
Here's the article that goes with the video from The Star: Tossing fruits in hope of finding love
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