Cap Go Meh

Cap Go Meh

Mervin

What a day!!! Mervin, my colleague, the local boy who was born and bought up in this small Equator city in the West of Kalimantan an island province of Indonesia, is the man of the day. He is the one who took me deeper into the relics of this city particularly about the Chinese tradition to which i was newly introduced.
It was yesterday night, while i was on voice chat with Amma my phone squeaked by Mervin's text which said that tomorrow is the opening ceremony of the Cap Go Meh. 

Cap Go Meh (pronounced as 'Chap Goh Meh') represents the 15th day and last day of the festive Chinese New Year for migrant ethnic communities of Chinese living outside China .Very colorful, very loud, lot of energy. at times i felt even the sun gained a hell lot of energy watching this and giving out some extra heat in return. Above all it was a vibrant feast for my canon too.

There were around 8 - 10 dragons and around 15-20 people to dance the dragon to on its way to chase the dragon ball. Like all festivals their presence of color, especially red, was spread all over.

Touched you!!!

Even after hours after the event the bang of the drums and the cheers of the crowd and the sound of strong footsteps of the dragon-dancers are still not able to escape from my ears. Even though not as much as my own Thrissur Pooram, Cap Go Meh also gave me a great time.

With a Dragon dancer

I do not agree to the statement someone made that festivals are petty superstition of the tribal era which is blindly conducted perhaps repeated in the present day. But I find the role of festivals from a different angle. Festivals are one among the various essentials in a society to sustain and its culture and tradition as generations moves on. Apart from all these something which I have experienced is the pride that I come from a village or city or state or province or country which is famous for a particular festival. I have boasted many times about my Thrissur Pooram with all the details known to me. I’m just proud of it…

Anyways it was a memorable day…Once again...Thanks to Mervin.