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Translates
as 15th night in Hokkien Chinese, Chap Goh Meh is the
15th day of the Chinese New Year and a time when
traditionally eligible young ladies were allowed to go
out withtheir stern faced amahs or female relatives in
tow to keep the randy young gallants at bay. At least
the young bucks could cast their eyes over the available
talent, contact a matchmaker and see if wedding bells
were in the stars. In a nutshell.
Traditionally many Chinese didn't return to work until
after Chap Goh Meh but unfortunately in today's global
environment the idea of whole communities taking off for
2 weeks is a no no. There was the joke doing the rounds
during the cold war that everyone knew when the Soviets
would invade Western Europe...at the weekends because
there would be no one to answer the phones! Houses are
lit up, at Chap Goh Meh not the Soviet invasion, prayers
are offered to ancestors and final requests for
prosperity, never very far from Chinese spirituality,
because it is believed the prosperity god goes away
after the 15th day.
Penang
adds a twist to this tradition for on the big day the
ladies head down to the waters edge, in this case the
esplanade and throw oranges into the waters. This
signifies their availability to the watching men
apparently. It has become a big day on the Penang
calendar with Dragon dancing, big flag waving (Chingay)
and, this being Penang, loads of food available.
Once
upon a time Chinese daughters led pretty secluded lives,
they weren't encouraged to move about freely, many
didn't even go to school so Chap Goh Meh was their big
day. They would dress up in all their finery and
jewellry and, certainly the well to do ones, to cruise
round early Georgetown in horse drawn buggies, looking
demure and suitably shy but open to offers. By the river
or down by the Esplanade they would throw oranges into
the waters and wish for a husband.
For the
men it was their Christmas but they too were constrained
by tradition. They couldn't just chase after the lady of
their dreams. Instead they made a note of the carriage
number as it drove past and passed the details on to an
intermediary or matchmaker. It was this person's job to
approach the family of the girl and open negotiations.
Today
the girls still throw the oranges into the water and
teams of men race to gather as many as they can while in
the background choirs sing dondang sayang, love songs,
while every else eats. Oh and in these cross borders
times the oranges must of course be mandarins, not some
Californian import!
There
is one famous story of a young lad who saw the most
gorgeous girl riding round Penang one Chap Goh Meh. He
made a note of the number and the matchmaker got to
work. In those days the bride and groom didn't always
get to meet before the big day and that was the case
here. So our young hero wakes up on the day of his
wedding dreaming drop dead beauty and no doubt rubbing
his hands in expectation, wondering if what his servant
had told him was true. For in those days there was no
sex education. Anyway he turns up at his wedding and his
heart drops for instead of the beauty he was expecting
he got a rather fat, rather plain someone else. It seems
the beauty was a cousin just visiting for the festival
and the daughter of the house was now eagerly expecting
a husband. The husband went through with it and probably
had the last laugh for as well as being rather fat and
rather plain the lady in question was rather rich!
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