Penang State Chap Goh Meh Open House 2013

USPA NEWS - Event: Penang State Chap Goh Meh Open House 2013
Date: 24 February 2013
Time: 6.30pm ““ 11.00pm
Venue: Esplanade

Celebrate Chap Goh Meh on a grander scale this year with a state open house, cultural performances, and a grand fireworks display. The celebration will begin with a Chingay and Lion Dance

The night´s program also include “˜Dondang Sayang´, singing performances by singers from Astro and Chinese traditional dances and performances such as the Fan Dance and Tibetan Dance by Penang Phor Tay High School, 24 Drums, Snake Dance, Chinese Orchestra by Heng Ee High School, LED Dragon Dance, a Wushu performance and a Baba Nyonya Performance. To end the night, there will be a ten-minute grand fireworks display and a Lion Dance on Stilts performance featuring four skillful “˜lions´.

In Hokkien, Chap Goh Meh means the fifteenth night of Chinese New Year and is celebrated with prayers and offerings to mark the end of the festive season. This is the last day when houses are brightly decorated with lanterns and colourful lights before the Chinese New Year decorations are taken down the following day. Also known as Chinese Valentine´s Day, Chap Goh Meh signifies the first full moon of the lunar new year and the act of mandarin tossing is traditionally practised by single maidens to wish for a good husband and with hope that her true love will pick up the orange.