Monday, March 5, 2007

Chap Goh Meh

The first fifteen days of the Chinese or Lunar New Year is celebrated with much pomp and splendour and yesterday marked the last day of the fifteenth. There is even a name given to it here in Malaysia. It is Chap Goh Meh which simply translates to the "fifteenth night" in the Chinese Hokkien and Teochew dialects. It is also referred to as the "Lantern Festival" or the "Chinese Valentine's Day". Readers of this blog are well-versed with what entails pertaining to the latter, i.e., the Chinese Valentine's Day.

However, for those uninitiated, this is the evening where in olden times in China, unmarried ladies toss oranges into the river or the sea in the hope of finding a husband. I always thought this was an ancient practice but was surprised to read in the papers the other day that people in Malaysia do practise this. These days, even unmarried men are also taking part. What they do is they write their contact number and name on the orange before tossing the fruit.

This is all quite fun but I wonder what are the chances of ending up in a marriage this way? Of course, there is another more reliable way of getting a date as well as getting married a step further. These days, one can go online. There is this high quality online dating site, JustSayHi.com, that is sure to have a suitable match for any single looking for a meaningful relationship or just want some dating fun.

Even though this site is free, the features are really as good as any paid site. Join the site and view thousands of online personals. The emphasis here is high quality but don't take my word for it. Check out the site for yourself. This could be a great start to a wonderful online dating experience leading to a meaningful relationship.

5 comments:

  1. Hey, I like to play Lantern riddles in “Chap Goh Meh” day. ;-)

    Let me have a bit fun on the following riddle with you, Happy.
    Do you know what is it?

    1):泥裡一條龍,頭頂一個蓬,身體一節節,滿肚小窟窿。(菜名)

    2):小小一姑娘,坐在水中央,身穿粉紅襖,陣陣放清香。(花名一)

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  2. Hi PP, let me make a wild guess.

    1) Lotus roots
    2) Water lily

    Hope you had a great Lantern Festival. Is that celebrated on a grand scale in Macau?

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  3. Anonymous3:40 PM

    Good Guess. WELL DONE! ^_^

    澳門的元宵節大至和西方的情人節慶祝方式相差不大.

    只是在個別的公園裏有花燈的擺設及設有燈謎給年青的人玩.

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  4. Dates? The only dates I'm interested these days are the ones that grow on trees. ;^)

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  5. hehe..dates. The other day, I saw a cooking documentary about China and the various soups and that was the first time I saw fresh dates. Eye-opening for me because the ones I'm familiar with are the dried dates that we use for soups and those sweet dates during the fasting month of Ramadhan.

    ReplyDelete