Chap Goh Mei

Chinese New Year’s Day is the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar; differing from the Gregorian calendar being used in the West. This occasion is celebrated on a large scale in China, home to approximately 1.3 billion people; this number being recorded in the year 2013. The main aim of the celebration is to gather with family and friends, who come back from all across the world to celebrate with their families. The New Year’s Eve dinner is referred to as ‘reunion dinner’ and is regarded as the most important meal of the year.

Yuan Xiao, otherwise known as Chap Goh Mei in Hokkien, is the celebration carried out on the last day of the fifteen-day long festivities. There are many different beliefs about the origins of this festival. According to Wikipedia, one of these legends involved a crane. This one speaks of a beautiful crane that flew down to Earth from the heavens. Not long after it landed on Earth, it was killed by some villagers. Infuriated by what the villagers had done, the Jade Emperor planned to destroy the village with a storm of fire on the fifteenth lunar day. The Jade Emperor’s daughter warned the villagers of the impending danger. This left the village in turmoil, fearing for their lives. However, a wise man from another village suggested that every family should hang red lanterns around their houses, set up bonfires on the streets, and explode firecrackers on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth lunar days. To the Jade Emperor, this would give the impression of the village being on fire. On the fifteenth lunar day, troops from heaven were deployed with the sole mission to destroy the village. Upon reaching the village, they saw that the village was already ablaze; so they returned to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor. Satisfied, the Jade Emperor made the decision not to burn down the village. From that day on, people celebrated on the fifteenth lunar day every year by carrying lanterns on the streets and exploding firecrackers and fireworks.

This day is also known to many as the Chinese version of the English celebration, Valentines’ Day where unmarried women will throw mandarin oranges inscribed with names and telephone numbers into rivers in search of a partner. This tradition actually originated from Penang, otherwise known as the Prince of Wales island.