The Lantern Festival

This time honoured festival takes place on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese calendar. Known as Chap Goh Meh among Malaysians (particularly among Penangites), the festivities takes place under a full moon, and marks the end of Chinese New Year festivities.

There are many legends about the origin of the Lantern Festival, and one of them credits the lantern with saving an entire village from being burnt to the ground by a vengeful god. Upon the advice of a kindly celestial being, the village folk lit lanterns throughout the village so that from up in heaven, it looked as if the entire village below was in flames! The Jade Emperor was fooled and the village was spared from a fiery end. From that day on, so the legend goes, Chinese people celebrate the anniversary of their deliverance by carrying lanterns of different shapes and colors through the streets on the first full moon of the year.

John L. Nevius, writing in China and the Chinese, attempted to describe the jocund air of the lantern festival during his visit to China in the 19th century: "A great number of shops and variety of lanterns are exposed for sale in the shops. They are made with a light frame of bamboo covered with transparent paper, and represent birds and animals, and other objects of interest. Some of them are made to run on wheels. Others are so contrived that the motion of the air produced by the burning of the candle sets wheels and machinery at work, and makes the object appear like a thing of life. A great deal of ingenuity is manifested in these toys which please the old as well as the young. An unusual number of people are seen in the streets, and they retire to their homes at a late hour."

Among many Chinese, the lantern festival is also fondly remembered for the tang yuan (or tong yuen in Cantonese). In the popular local version, tang yuan consists of glutinous rice balls coloured brightly and poached in a sweet ginger flavoured syrup - a truly scrumptious experience! Traditionally, tong yuan sometimes contains a filling of sesame, peanuts, vegetable, or meat, cooked in red-bean or other kinds of soup. Whether traditional or localized, sweet or savoury, the round shape of the tang yuan ball symbolizes wholeness and unity.

Date: 15 September 2007 Until 14 October 2007
Venue: Penang
Phone: 604-262 0202
Fax: 604-263 1020
Email: enquiry@tourismpenang.gov.my

(News extract from: www.tourismpenang.gov.my)