Chap Goh Meh
Well, it’s the 15th day of Chinese New Year 2006, the last day, in fact. In Hokkien, it’s called Chap Goh Meh. Chap Goh means “15″ in Hokkien, but I don’t know what Meh means.
It has almost been a non-Chinese New Year for me. Not much of a festive mood for me.
Maybe it’s cuz of the week-long festive break, which took the fun out of taking time off to celebrate.
Maybe it’s because I moved from the old house to my own apartment just before CNY and have been very busy doing all the various things associated with such an event.
Mostly it’s because father’s not here. In the past, he was the one who put the festivity in our Chinese New Year celebrations.
He would go shopping for the CNY goodies to give to the grandnephews and grandnieces. These would be a big tin of Danish cookies and a big box of chocolates, and even tho those grandkids are mostly grown-up now, he never outgrew this tradition of giving.
He would shop around for the best box of Mandarin oranges (called gum in Cantonese, which sounds like the Cantonese word for gold, and therefore a highly treasured, and inexpensive, gift item during CNY), best in terms of price and sweetness of the fruit.
This year, we didn’t have either (the CNY goodies for the grandkids and the Mandarin oranges). And it’s true that we miss what is no longer here. Suddenly, I find the CNY festive atmosphere missing, all because father’s no longer with us. And me being not much of a tradition-keeper, this will be the way from now on.
