Some Practical Advice for Chinese New Year

The celebration of Chinese New Years is rich with tradition and superstitious belief. To help you launch a successful “Year of the Rat” – a year rather ominously associated with death, war and atrocities – here’s some practical advice to help you steer a good course.

Do’s

• Open a window to welcome good luck and the new year.

• Confuse ghosts and spirits by switching lights on and off.

• To sweeten the year ahead, be sure to eat some sweets over the New Year.

• Time to clean house. A Clean and tidy home will bring good luck in the coming year.

• What you do on February 7th may influence the year ahead. Many gamble on that day as “winning” on the day signals a year of prosperity ahead.

• Buy a pair of new slippers – it symbolizes stepping on those who spread gossip about you.

• Take a bath in pomelo leaves on New Year’s eve as it is believed to bring health in the year ahead.

Don’ts

• Some consider buying a pair of new shoes as bad luck. The word “shoe” in Cantonese is a homophone for “rough” or “evil” in Mandarin.

• “Don’t buy pants during Chinese New Year. The word of “pants” is a homophone for “bitter” in Cantonese.

• Washing your hair on New Year’s may wash away good luck.

• Similarly sweeping the floor on New Year’s Day might send fortune into the dustpan.

• Avoid discussions of death in the early days of the Chinese New Year.

• Don’t buy books during Chinese New Year as it may precipitate a personal loss.

• Avoid wearing black and white. Black is the color of bad luck and white is a color appropriate to funerals.

Source: Bali Discovery