Lantern Festival, or Yuan Xiao Jie, or Lovers’ Day. Which is which?
Confused? So am I. However, it more or less signifies the end of New Year celebrations and happens to fall on the fifteenth day of the New Year. Chap Goh Mei is actually derived from the term used by the Hokkiens in Malaysia to mean the fifteeth night, when reunion banquets (well, dinners, I exaggerate a bit) are again laid on to close the final leg of the big celebrations for the year. In China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the terms Lantern Festival or Yuan Xiao are more commonly used, and lanterns are of course the main theme of the night. In Malaysia, lanterns are mostly associated with the Moon (Mid-Autumn) Festival. In parts of Peninisular Malaysia (Penang, I think) Chap Goh Mei is also konwn as the Valentine’s Day, when tangerines are tossed into the sea by the spinsters, oops, I mean single ladies, to wish for a better luck this year for husband hunting. One thing must be said, this year has seen a more subdued Chinese New Year celebration, probably because of the touch-and-go economy
