Lucky New Year – Families meet on the eve of the new year. It involves an expensive supper that includes jiaozi, or dumplings. They are thought to be lucky because they resemble old currency bags, which symbolized prosperity and abundance. Another item on the menu is nian gao. It is a sticky and compact rice cake composed of glutinous rice flour that can be sweet or savory.
The following are ten Chinese New Year superstitions.
Here are some superstitions to consider, whether you believe them or not.
- Do not sweep or remove trash. The concept is that by putting out the garbage on New Year’s Day, you will be sweeping prosperity away or removing good fortune out of the house.
- Make good use of your words. Avoid using profanity or arguing. Speak of success and good fortune in order for more of it to occur in the following year.
- Avoid having a haircut and shampooing your hair. At the start of the year, it is regarded as “washing one’s prosperity away.” Get a new haircut or hairdo before Chinese New Year to give yourself a fresh start in the new year.
- Along with not washing your hair, don’t wash your clothes. Washing garments is considered a form of disrespect to the god of water in Chinese mythology. Do your washing three days after the new year.
- Because scissors and knives are sharp, they are thought to “break ties” with friends and family.
- When giving money to children in red envelopes, make sure the quantity is even. Even numbers are considered lucky in Chinese culture. Unlucky numbers like 4 and 40 are the only exceptions to this rule since the number 4 in Chinese sounds like the word “death.”
- Wear red since it’s eye-catching and the same color as the money envelopes. Wearing white is frowned upon because it connotes grief or death.
- Wearing new clothes and shoes in the future year is thought to represent wealth and abundance in China. As a result, if buying a new outfit is out of your means, avoid wearing damaged clothing because it symbolizes “rags.”
- Avoid taking out loans or borrowing money.
- Avoid going to the hospital.
While some of these superstitions may seem inescapable or “out there,” they are founded on ancient ceremonies passed down through the generations, so take them with a grain of salt and enjoy the new year.