"What you do during the Spring Festival will affect your luck in the coming year." This is the belief of Chinese people because the Spring Festival is the start of a new year. Let's have a look at this list of Chinese New Year's superstitions and taboos.
1. Avoid taking medicine
It is believed that a person will get ill for the whole year if he or she takes medicine on the first day of the lunar year. Some ill people would break their medicine pots in the belief that it will drive the illness away in the coming year.
2. Don't sweep the floor or take out the garbage
Sweeping the floor is considered as removing wealth away from your house while taking out garbage symbolizes dumping out the good fortune from the house.
3. Don't eat porridge and meat for breakfast
Porridge is considered as breakfast for poor people. You wouldn't want to start off your year "poor" as this is a bad omen, so porridge should not be eaten as breakfast. Besides, meat should not be eaten as breakfast too because Buddhists are against the killing of animals.
4. Don't wash clothes and hair
On the first and second day, you must not wash your clothes and hair because these two days is the birthday of the Water God. Besides, in the Chinese language, hair (发) has the same character as fa in facai (发财), which means 'to become rich’. Therefore, it is not good to “wash one’s fortune away” at the beginning of the New Year.
5. Needlework should not be done
The use of knives and scissors is to be avoided for any accident, whether harming a person or as a tool, it is thought to lead to unfavourable things and the depletion of wealth in the coming year.
6. A married daughter is not allowed to visit the house of her parents
A married daughter normally visits the house of her parents on the second day of the Chinese New Year. A married daughter usually will not visit the house of her parents on the first day of Chinese New Year because this is believed that this would bring bad luck and economic hardship to the family.
7. Try to stop a baby from crying
The parents would try their best to stop babies from crying because a crying baby is believed that it would bring bad luck to the family.
8. Avoid breaking things
Breaking things during Chinese New Year is associated with a loss of wealth for the coming year. Therefore, many people take great precautions to prevent it.
Try practising these cultural norms during this Chinese New Year! There's a reason why our ancestors followed them, right?
