It’s the last day of Chinese New Year celebrations, a day known as Chap Goh Mei (the Lantern Festival). It’s as important and grand as the very first day of CNY. Just like the first day, Chap Goh Mei has an origins story too, which goes like this:
The Jade Emperor was enraged when his goose was killed by a town. He intended to burn the town down, but a fairy intervened, advising the citizens to light lanterns across town on the scheduled day of doom.
Because of all the brightness, the emperor imagined the town was already engulfed in flames. The town was spared, and as a thank you, the residents have continued to memorialize the incident by waving colorful lanterns across town every year.
Once every few years, the lunar and Gregorian calendars align, and eastern and western celebrations coincide – in the case of this year, Valentine’s Day. But while Valentine’s Day is a day for lovers, Chap Goh Mei, which also celebrates romance, favours the single. Back to the origins story: the day the townsfolk were exhorted to take lanterns out to fool the God of Fire was the only day girls of marriageable age were allowed to leave their houses.
As time passed, many young females seized the opportunity, on Chap Goh Mei, to dress up to go to temples in the hope of meeting potential husbands. A large number of young guys began congregating at temples, hoping to score a wife. If a young man met someone he liked, he engaged a matchmaker to negotiate for the lady’s hand in marriage on his behalf.
According to Chinese folklore, a deity known as Yue Xia Lao Ren (Chinese: 月下老人), better known as Yue Lao (Chinese: 月老 ), the old lunar matchmaker God, ties red strings of destiny around the ankles of those who are destined to meet each other in a unique situation, or to help each other in a specific way.
Today, single ladies traditionally throw mandarin oranges into rivers in hopes of finding a husband. In Malaysia, the custom of throwing mandarin oranges into rivers (抛柑) during Chap Goh Mei is alive and well. The unmarried women would write their names and phone numbers on the mandarin oranges before throwing them into rivers.
If there’s a higher chance of finding a partner, why not include your social media details? 😂 The river would be a temporary sea of oranges with the amount of mandarin oranges thrown into it. Also, if you ladies want to throw oranges into a river or at your crush, please be careful when you say this word – 柑你拿, – because if you say it with the wrong intonation, it may sound like a Hokkien swear word. 🙀
Other than throwing mandarin oranges in hopes of being matched by Yue Lao, you must also eat tangyuan (汤圆) or yuanxiao (元宵) on this day as well. It is a glutinous rice ball treat that symbolises togetherness, as we would be seeing our family at next year’s celebration.
Lipstiq wishes everyone a Happy Chap Goh Mei!
元宵节快乐！
More on CNY? Read this:
https://lipstiq.com/festive/188206/enjoy-the-feast-ivities-a-list-of-must-have-delicacies-during-cny-a-special-recipe/
