Valentine’s Day is in two weeks’ time and if you’re still looking for a date, you might just get lucky during Chap Goh Mei this year. Chap Goh Mei is the fifteenth and final day of Chinese New Year and is often regarded as the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day in many regions and countries.
During the day however, it is celebrated with elaborate feasts with families and friends, prayers and offerings to departed ones with requests for success and wealth to the God of Prosperity with Chinese homes lit with red lanterns to send off the festival ceremoniously.
Towards the evening, Chinese families will enjoy a reunion dinner, have Yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) and play with fireworks to conclude the celebration.
Young women hoping to find prospective suitors will engage in an orange-throwing ritual which we suspect is a clever ploy to rid excess mandarin oranges received throughout the course of the Lunar New Year.
Surprisingly enough, this tradition originated from Penang during the late 19th century where single women toss mandarin oranges into the sea which symbolizes their availabilty and the hope to find a good spouse. In the event their orange gets retrieved, the woman who threw it will be blessed with love.
In these modern times, girls write their contact details such as email and FaceBook account before throwing them into lakes where men will flock around with large butterfly nets to fish out these oranges.
Men who wish to try their luck will throw bananas with their contact details. This tradition is famously carried out in Penang at Taman Jaya in Petaling Jaya. Do share with us if you been part of this tradition before and if it worked for you! Happy celebrating Chap Goh Mei!
Chap Goh Mei will take place on the 6th of February this year.
