Chinese New Year festivities in George Town will climax with the Penang Chap Goh Meh Celebration 2026 at the Esplanade from 5pm to 11pm.
This annual public event will see age-old customs, such as the symbolic tossing of oranges into the sea, taking centre stage alongside lion and dragon dances, thunderous drums and a grand fireworks display.
The evening will spotlight one of Penang’s most cherished living traditions – the Chap Goh Meh Dondang Sayang Parade.
The celebration of Peranakan heritage will see a decorated bus and accompanying floats ferrying elaborately dressed Babas and Nyonyas through town, serenading onlookers with favourite sayang tunes and pantun exchanges set to catchy rhythms.
Organised by the State Chinese (Penang) Association, the convoy will depart from its premises
in Perak Road, travel to the Esplanade to join festivities there before heading on to Gurney Bay.
During these scheduled stops, performers will mingle with the public, pose for photographs and engage in melodic exchanges.
Association deputy vice-president Datuk Lillian Tong described Dondang Sayang as a uniquely Peranakan expression of wit, music and storytelling.
“Penang remains the only state in Malaysia since the 1920s that continues to celebrate the tradition with a bus and floats going around.
“Few families practise it nowadays. Members of the Peranakan community will be coining rhymes in Malay, accompanied by Malay Asli musicians who have played alongside us for years.
“It is the embodiment of Penang’s unique cultural heritage and diversity,” said Tong, a sixth generation Peranakan who first participated in the 1980s.
She promises that this year’s edition will be just as mesmerising.
Her Sayang Sayang Nyonya Dancers group, as well as the Bunga and Bintang Nyonya Dancers, are set to steal the show.
“We will be dressed in traditional baju panjang, a long tunic that was popular from the late 19th to the early 20th century.
“Most young people today probably haven’t seen it.
“In a way, it is like going back to the future, reviving the past and presenting it anew for today’s generations,” she said.
Dondang Sayang – which dates from 15th century Melaka and literally means “love ballad” – is believed to have become intertwined with Penang’s Chap Goh Meh festivities around the 1920s.
The local Baba Nyonya community eventually decided to start a float parade, a tradition that has continued since.
Tong said the biggest challenge in keeping the tradition alive today was the steep cost, which was partially offset by state government assistance.
“Every year, we have lots of people clamouring to be part of the convoy.
“When I started, there was only one group, the Sayang Sayang Nyonya Dancers. There are now four or five performing groups involved,” she said.
Getting and retaining new blood is not easy either.
While many among the younger generation are keen to join activities, most eventually drop out due to studies or work.
Tong credited exposure from the media for a resurgence of interest in intangible cultural heritage.
“I remember when National Geographic came to us late one year.
“We advised them to wait a few months till Chap Goh Meh, as that was when the true spirit of Dondang Sayang could be seen.
“They carefully documented every detail of the entire occasion – from the girls dressing up in kebaya to the procession itself – for posterity.
“Anthropologist and TV host Dr Julian Wilkinson came and sat on the bus to experience it first-hand.
“At the Esplanade, they captured the Nyonyas tossing oranges into the sea alongside the pantun exchanges and music.
“It was an archive for the future. One day, people will look back and see how Chap Goh Meh is celebrated in our time, even if the tradition evolves in the years to come,” she added.
Tong vividly remembers the 2024 edition, which had to be cancelled halfway due to a massive thunderstorm.
“All the decorations were blown out to sea and all of us in our nice kebayas were totally drenched,” she recalled.
Several other free-to-attend events will take place before Chap Goh Meh, including the Tanjong CNY Celebration 2026 at King Street in George Town on Feb 28, from 6pm to 11pm.
Highlights include lion dance on stilts, drum and face-changing routines, Chinese traditional music and hands-on activities.
There will also be over 20 food stalls offering local delicacies and beautiful festive photo backdrops. It will culminate in a fireworks display.
Also on Feb 28, the Guan Yin Ting Dou Mu Gong Temple on the mainland will host the Butterworth Miaohui 2026 from 4pm till late.
Expect similar cultural showcases, alongside workshops on tea making, seal carving, rubbing art, thread-bound books and lantern riddles.
On March 2, Penang Chinese Town Hall located along Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling will hold its early Chap Goh Meh Lantern Festival from 5pm to 10pm.
There will be a Chinese New Year lantern decorating competition and children’s singing competition, alongside folk dance, lion dance and dragon dance showcases.
A festive bazaar, calligraphy activity and Zumba session complete the programme.
Some 500 mini lanterns will also be given away to visitors.
Those involved in business ventures may want to keep a close eye on the annual Chneah Hoay or flame-watching ceremony starting around 11pm, also on March 2, at the Hai Choo Soo Tua Pek Kong Temple in Tanjung Tokong.
This time-honoured ritual – said to date back to the 1840s – elicits a prediction from the resident deity on the state’s economic fortunes in the coming year.
This is interpreted through the first three bursts of flames to erupt from an urn, with their intensity, stability and duration indicating the outlook for corresponding four-month periods.
Straits Quay Retail Marina is also hosting its annual Chap Goh Meh By-The-Sea from 4pm onwards on March 3, featuring a night market, night Zumba, war drums, God of Prosperity walkabout, LED lion dance and orange tossing sessions. — By JEREMY TAN
