Sunday 17 February 2008

Chap Goh Meh

In a few days time, it will be “Chap Goh Meh”, the 15th day of the first lunar month and also, the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations. On this day, the Kitchen God will return from Heaven after completing his task.

First, I would like to tell you a little bit about the Kitchen God and Heaven. The Kitchen God is sent by the Heavenly King to the kitchens of every Chinese household to keep an eye on us and on Chinese New Year Day (the first day of the first lunar month), he will ascend to Heaven to report to the Heavenly King our good and bad deeds for the year. Because there are so many of us, he is given fifteen days to complete his report which is why the Chinese New Year is celebrated for fifteen days.
Those of us who have been naughty would start praying to the Kitchen God a week before Chinese New Year Day offering the sweet and sticky steamed glutinous rice pudding called Nian Kao (or Tee Koey in Hokkien) with the hope that it will “glue” his mouth together so that he can only mumble when he present his report to the Heavenly King. In Heaven, all reports must be presented orally.

Heaven is a palace in the clouds where the Heavenly King and Queen live with their army, palace officials and servants and is not in Machu Picchu , as has been previously reported. Frequent fliers may have spotted the palace amongst the clouds during one of their flights. The Chinese flier will be filled with joy as he knows it is only the very lucky few who get a glimpse of Heaven. The non-Chinese flier will think that it is a mirage. Why, it has even been mistaken for a UFO!

Note:
The Chinese population has increased tremendously so there is a likelihood that in the near future, the Heavenly King would allow the Kitchen God one month to complete his report which, of course, would mean that the Chinese New Year celebrations would also be extended to a month.
The Kitchen God can only ascend to or descend from Heaven on the 1st or 15th of the lunar month because on these two nights, the full moon will enable him to find his way. Oh, the Kitchen God cannot travel by day because, after being secluded in the kitchen for a year, the bright daylight would hurt his eyes.

In the old days in China, young boys and girls are allowed to meet each other only on the night of Chap Goh Meh. Dressed in their very best, the young people will stroll along the rivers and lakes, using lanterns to light the way. Hence, Chap Goh Meh is also known as the Lantern Festival.
When a boy sees a girl he fancies, he will throw an apple into the water near her. If the girl likes the boy too, she will respond by throwing an orange back in his direction. However, not everyone is so lucky so it is wise to bring along a basketful of apples. You can imagine the desperate ones running around frantically throwing apples at all and sundry in the hope of getting a favourable response. Boy! What would they give to be a member of an online dating site!


Lee

P.S.
This article is based on tales related by my grandma, what I heard at the marketplace and coffee shops and a little imagination.

4 comments:

*weiwei~ said...

DID MAMA BRING HER WHOLE FAMILY TO COME THROW APPLES AND ORANGES AT YOU???????? heh heh.

wildfather said...

What apples and oranges? Didn't you read carefully? In Hokkien, apple or ping kor rhymes with "bor" and orange or kam rhymes with "ang". No wonder you cannot write poetry.

Rachel M said...

I'm very interested in purchasing fireflies. Please contact me at jun1per@aol.com

Unknown said...

If still selling please contact me at richmeisels@yahoo.com. Thanks!