Cap Go Meh Festival

By: Vinny Stevani

Cap Go Meh is a festival for Chinese people, this festival is held to close the Chinese New Year celebration. This celebration is usually held on the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese Lunar calendar. Usually the Chinese people celebrate the Cap Go Meh with Ciak Tua Kai, where people call it a feast. 

The feast is arranged together with all of the relatives in the house, especially with the main family and they eat various dishes that are prepared. During the Cap Go Meh celebration, there are some traditional events arranged during the Cap Go Meh celebration, like dragon, lion dance, Tatung attraction, and the fireworks show.

Before the attraction starts, there are some requirements, in the form of rituals. Rituals are performed before being shown to the public, for example, the dragon dance, where the ritual required a shaman to awaken the dragon, where people called it Buka Mata. The spirit then will enter the puppet that is made out of flammable fabrics The dragon's ritual isheld on the 13th day of the first month of the Chinese Lunar calendar. The purpose of the dragon for the ritual is to make the dragon's eyes become brighter. While for the lion dance, it symbolizes a real lion. 

Another one of the attractions during the Cap Go Meh is Tatung, where there is a ritual before shown to the public as an attraction. Before the attraction is shown to the public there was a requirement, which is Cuci Jalan. The purpose of Cuci Jalan is to cast away evil spirits. 

Cap Go Meh can make tourists interested and they can go to the event of Cap Go Meh. With Cap Go Meh, other people can know little about tradition about Chinese people anda Cap Go Meh can increase the chance to open more businesses, like culinary, transportation, and homestay.