End of Chinese New Year Celebrations

firstly, i would like to apologise to all my readers for not updating my blog. i'm so sorry, but i was taken ill for the past two days. it's only now that i managed to sit in front of the computer (sober and healthy) to blog.

i believe i didn't cover the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. well, it's called 'yuen siao' in China, 'yuin siew chit' in Hong Kong, and 'Chap Goh Meh' in Penang. it can be translated to mean the 15th night (of the first lunar month).

this is also festival of 'shang yuan', or the first of the three kings. these august ones once ruled over China, and was believed to be able to rid pestilence, cure disease, and maintain peace. 'shang yuan' is celebrated to the heavenly king. however, this practise is no longer celebrated in Penang

on the other hand, Penang is unique as the last day of CNY is celebrated the baba and nyonya (straits chinese) way. instead of lighting up lanterns to mark the occasion (in China), this is the night whereby Penang ladies take to the street. during the colonial days, this is the only night whereby young virgins are taken out of their houses. they are then chaperoned to Esplanade to throw oranges into the sea. apparently, the oranges are marked with their wishes (sometimes name and phone number)for a happy marriage soon. bachelors will then row out to the sea to fish these oranges, and eventually hoping to marry the maiden that threw the destined orange. funny huh....

this is also the night whereby the straits chinese come out in their finest to perform the dondang sayang. the Esplanade will be nicely decorated,and the dondang sayang troupe will come in their lovinly decorated bus. men and women will then dance to the beat, while exchanges verses in malay poems.

hmm. no wonder they call this the chinese valentine (actually, the chinese valentine's day is on the 7th day of the 7th month). fast forward a few decades, and Penangites now celebrate 'chap goh meh' in front of the penang chinese town hall instead of esplanade. gone are the maidens (tailed by their mummies)...and gone were the days when ladies threw oranges in the sea. apparently, they decided to build a wishing well in front of the goddess of mercy temple for the ladies to throw their oranges. hmm.. i wonder what's the fun in that.

anyway, the 15th day is also the day for pengat. it's a dessert made from coconut milk, bananas, sweet potates and sago. it's extremely delicious (but i didn't have any due to my illness). the pengat is a traditional nyonya dish, and is cooked on this day as the pengat signifies abundance. it will be offered to ancestors on the altar, and then eaten by the living..nowadays, u can easily get pengat from any dessert booth by the street.

guess this is the end of my festive post. i'll be going back to more personal posts soon.. in the meantime, feel free to read my paid posts. i actually spent some time penning my thoughts for something more than pennies.. haha

ciao
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ben