30 Dos and Don'ts to Get Good Luck on Lunar New Year
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| Wear Red - One of 10 Best TIPS to get Lucky in Lunar New Year |
The following things you should do during Lunar New Year to get Lucky things
1.DO: Clean the house
But before New Year’s Day. Any cleaning done on New Year’s Day washes away good luck. Until then clean to your heart’s content. Doing so will rid your house of any huiqi, or inauspicious breaths, collected over the year.
2.DO: Deck the halls
After you’re done ridding your pad of dirt and demons, spruce it up with some good luck decor. A fu sign is a no brainer. The character for luck is often hung on doors upside down since the word for upside down, dao, sounds like the word for “to arrive.”
You may also consider some banners of spring couplets, short poems which often accompany well wishes. The poems generally celebrate the beauty of nature or express “wishes for a happy and prosperous future.”
Flowers are also a must have around the house. Orchids stand for fertility and abundance, peach blossoms for prosperity and growth, plum blossoms for endurance and courage, and peonies for richness and peace.
3.DO: Wear red
Red is a good luck color in general in Chinese culture, and you’ll see it a lot of it during the New Year. In addition to luck, it symbolizes happiness, vitality, and long life.
If you were born in the Year of the Ox, you may want to consider investing in some red underwear. Benming nian is the year the Chinese zodiac lands on your birth animal, during which you’re susceptible to more bad luck than usual. Hence, donning lucky red skivvies.
How do you know you're an ox? Just count down from 2021 in multiples of 12.
4.DO: Give out (or receive) red envelopes
Called lai see in Cantonese and hong bao in Mandarin, red envelopes full of crisp bills are a big part of Chinese New Year.
How much to give? An even-numbered amount since those numbers are considered lucky while odd numbers aren’t. Also stay away from anything with “four” since in Chinese the number is a homonym for “death.”
As for who gets them, it depends. Some regions in China say married people give them to unmarried folks. Some say only children are the recipients. Others claim single adults but only if they’re unemployed. However you might get one, count yourself lucky if you do.
5.DO: Eat lucky food
What better way to up your luck than to ingest it? Lots of tasty eats are considered lucky, whether because of their names, appearance, or nature. The Chinese word for fish, yu, also sounds like the word for “abundance.” Tangerine sounds like “luck” while orange sounds like “wealth.”
Long noodles symbolize a long life while dumplings are made to resemble gold or silver ingots, a unit of currency in ancient China. Seeds represent fertility. Sweets signify a sweet year.
We’ll be talking more about what lucky Chinese New Year foods mean. Keep your eyes — and stomachs — open for the next post.
6.DO: Help Mama clean and sweep the floor
Before the New Year arrives, every home should be spring-cleaned from top to bottom – and your children can help out in this too! After that, house cleaning (or any sort of housework) is frowned upon during the New Year holiday, because the Chinese believe that this is tantamount to sweeping away any good luck.
7.DO: Watch Your Tongue Boy!
Remind the children not to quarrel during Chinese New Year (don’t we wish this could apply all year round?) and to avoid mentioning topics like ghosts and death in their conversations. Other words that are a strict no-no are the number four (which sounds like the word for “death”) and any kind of vulgar language.
8.DO: Get to stay up late
Children should stay up as late as possible on New Year’s Eve, to send off the old year and welcome the new. According to tradition, it is also believed that the later they stay up, the longer their parents will live. Of course, they would be more than happy to enjoy more playtime with their cousins after the family’s reunion dinner!
The following things you should not do during Lunar New Year to get Lucky things
9.DON’T: Eat unlucky food
Namely porridge for breakfast as it symbolizes poverty. Whether that means oatmeal or savory rice gruel is open to interpretation. Be safe and opt for some toast.
10.DON’T: Bathe
And especially don’t wash your hair. "Hair" in Chinese, fa, is the same word in the phrase fa cai, meaning “to become wealthy.” Shampoo on New Year’s Day and you’ll be washing that luck right out of your hair.
11.DON’T: Sweep
Sweep the floor and you’ll be sweeping away possible wealth. Don’t take the garbage out either. You’ll only be dumping good luck.
12.DON’T: Run with scissors
Of course you should never do so, but an accident involving a sharp object on New Year’s Day is said to bring bad luck for the year.
13.DON’T: Use unlucky words
Such as death, dying, ghost, or the deadly number four.
14.DON’T: Cry
There's no crying on New Year’s Day. Tears on the first day of the spring festival mean tears for the whole year.
15.DON’T: Give unlucky gifts
Invited to a New Year dinner? Great! But be sure not to bring:
- Sharp objects. Forget about that set of Ginsu knives. Sharp items imply the cutting of ties.
- Handkerchiefs. Another symbol of “goodbye forever” since they’re typically given out at funerals.
- Anything to do with the number four. Have we mentioned that four sounds like “death”?
- Shoes. The word for shoes (xie) is a homonym for "evil." Besides, what a weird gift.
- Clocks. The phrase “give a clock” sounds a lot like “attend a funeral rite.” Clocks are also a reminder that we’re all running out of time, and no one needs that.
16.DON’T: Anger and Don't Argue
Since everybody is in a festival mood under a joyful and hilarious atmosphere, people shouldn't argue each other. People should use auspicious words, not dirty words. Also parents shouldn't scold or punish the children. Otherwise, you will have more argument in the New Year.
17.DON’T: Touch shear, Needle and Knife
Women shouldn't use knife or shear in the kitchen, which indicates evil, anger, danger and cutting out the luck. As a result, women don't cook new dishes on this day, people eat meals from the leftover.
18.DON’T: Break Things
Breaking dish plate, bowel or cup means bad money luck coming. In case that happens, then Chinese put all broken pieces in a round container until the coming trash day.
19.DON’T: Married Women Don't Visit Parent’s Home
A married woman shouldn't go back to her parent’s home, otherwise her parent’s family will get poorer.
20.DON’T: Make Dirty and Take Away Trash
To sweep the floor or dump the trash will take away the wealth and luck from the house.
21.DON’T: Make a Noon Nap
Don't have a lunch nap at noon; otherwise people will be lazy year long.
22.DON’T: Wash Hair
To wash the hair will wash your good luck away.
23.DON’T: Wear in Black or White
Don't wear in black or white to visit friends, because black and white are funeral color in China.
24.DON’T: Visit Unfortunate House
People shouldn't visit friend's house, if they have a family member newly past away.
25.DON’T: Visit Doctor or Hospital
People shouldn't visit Doctor or Hospital. That will bring illness later during the new year.
26.DON’T: Wake Up People
Don't wake up people by calling their names, otherwise that sleeping person needs people's push all year long.
27.DON’T: Take Unnecessary Medicine
Don't take unnecessary medicine; otherwise you will become unhealthy this year.
28.DON’T: Wash Clothes
Don't wash clothes, because New Year Day is the birthday of the God of Water.
29.DON’T: Lend or Borrow Money
To borrow money from someone or lend money to someone will cause the money dispute. The worse thing is that it might lead to debit in coming year.
30.DON’T: Leave Wallet from Your Hands
Don't let people take anything away from your pocket or purse, because that's a sign of money loss in the year, cites chinesefortunecalendar.
