In general, Chap Goh Meh is the Hokkien pronunciation for 十五暝; the last day of the 15-days-long Chinese New Year celebration. The occasion is also known as the Lantern Festival or 元宵节 (Yuan Xiao Jie) in Chinese. It should not be confused with the Mid-Autumn Festival (The Moon Festival), which is also sometimes referred to as ‘Lantern Festival’ in Malaysia and Singapore.
For this festive occasion, it is marked by feasting and various festivities, with Tang Yuan (glutinous rice ball in sweet soup) as one of the main delicacies. Lighting lanterns, firecrackers and fireworks are also some of the popular activities during the celebration.
However, for Southeast Asian Chinese, this day is also known as the Chinese Valentine’s Day, where, traditionally, matchmaking will be held for single unmarried persons (usually girls) looking for potential suitors, and the popular ‘Mandarin Orange-Throwing’ custom will be held.
A Southeast Asian Custom
According to various sources, the custom took its roots in the Southeast Asian Chinese culture, starting from Penang. It is a custom for unmarried girls to find a potential suitor; as well as being the only time where the girls can be seen with their partners.
The custom is practiced during the night of Chap Goh Meh, usually near rivers or lakes. The girls will gather at the bridge, or lakeside, with mandarin oranges in hands, all written with their names. As for the boys, they will either be waiting in boats in the river or lake, or by the banks, ready to grab for the oranges that will be thrown into the waters. For married couples, some will light a candle boat and let it float into the river. It is said that the longer the boat floats, the longer the relationship will last.
While the custom now is not so much on looking for potential suitors or spouses, it is still celebrated as a fun-filled event for all, especially young people eager to meet new friends. For the girls, some even included their cell phone number or emails; thought it might be risky if the wrong person found it. All in all, it has become a get-together event for families and friends alike, where sometimes even DJs and hosts are invited to organize and host programs and various activities (e.g. guessing word puzzles, lantern-making) to spice up the event.
Chap Goh Meh is not the most ideal occasion, when one talk about romance and love, but, it is definitely the best occasion for gathering around, or rekindling passionate love for couples, and a chance to meet new friends, or perhaps, find the ‘Right’ person.
Happy Chinese New Year!
Red is the color of passion and love, as well as auspiciousness in the Chinese culture. Coincidently, Valentine’s Day for this year falls on the same day as the Lunar Chinese New Year. Thus, red is the most suitable color for the 6th Malaysian International Wedding & Beauty Exhibition, which is being held in the same month as both celebrations.
With a Touch of Auspiciousness
This time around, seeing that Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day are the upcoming events, we get to see displays of Chinese-themed gowns (cheongsam, embroidery etc) and bridal gowns with rose and floral motives (roses being the most popular flower during Valentine’s Day). Most of the banquet settings, especially those by Chinese banquet restaurants had incorporated classic Chinese themes into their designs and the menu, as seen at the participants along the Hotel & Restaurant Avenue. The long stretch of the avenue finally ends with HYT Travels, with various attractive New Year and honeymoon package rates all on display.
Fabulous Bridal Fashion Showcase
Banquets aside, the bridal fashion show is another main attraction, with Mon Liza Wedding Castle, and all time favorite Ivory Romance dishing out their best. Mon Liza’s show on Saturday was a colorful display of Victorian-style bridal gowns and evening ball gowns, complete with lace, flowers and ruffles; as well as classic cheongsam with dashes of glimmer and delicate embroidery; all in the brightest colors of spring; thus named its theme as the return of spring—a fresh start to all life forms.
Ivory Romance, on their Sunday show, gave us a brilliant performance as well. For the show, they’d invited celebrities Nasha Aziz and Peter Davis as guest models, along with Rhythm and Hits as the accompanying dance troupe. The range of their gowns on display varied, from conventional white gowns to cheongsams with a contemporary twist in designs and texture, plus shimmering figure-hugging dresses. However, the most eye-catching of the series are the red & black evening gowns and matching all-black glittering groom’s suit, which exude an air of darkness, mysterious and elegance.
Activities and Events
While the bridal fashion show remains the spotlight, other activities added more excitement to the overall event. Shills Beauty offered a live demonstration of their slimming patch and various other beauty products while giving out free gifts to the participants of the live demo, including a swan-shaped Swarovski crystal pendant.
During intermissions, Regal Orchestra presented the audience with a wide range of musical performances by a few live bands under their banner—the Chinese orchestra quartet with their classic Chinese love-songs as well as interesting Eastern-Western mix; the strings and keyboard trio of Hikaru with their all time English favorites; and a contemporary live band belting out popular hits and nostalgic oldies.
At the end of the day, most waited by all, is the Grand Lucky Draw Contest. Starting at 8:30pm, the contest will see 17 consolation prizes worth up to RM4000 and more, plus three top winning prizes, along with free album case, awarded to the lucky couple. Of course, the lucky couple, upon receiving their price, will be asked to complete a ‘task’ set by the host, such as singing a love song to his/her spouse, while the crowd cheered on for the couple. Wedding.com.my, the official website of the event, had been invited as the guest of honor to draw the winner’s name and present them their prizes.
The Conclusion
All in all, it was definitely three fun-filled days for all visitors, and three busy days for all the participants. We certainly need to express our gratitude to The Concept Exhibition, for all their effort and creativity, in bringing us this successful event with all its interesting programs and activities.
However, this will not be the only activity that will be for year 2010, as The Concept will be presenting us with more events for the months to come, including the 1st Malaysian Baby Children and Parent Expo in the late quarter of 2010.
