Chinese New Year Superstition and Taboos: 15 Things Are Not Allowed
Chinese New Year is a joyful and harmonious festival, but there are some traditional superstitions and taboos as doing them may bring bad luck. The Spring Festival typically lasts for 15 days, some things are forbidden throughout the entire festive period.
1. Keep the Lights Turning On.
After having a reunion dinner on New Year's Eve, people usually stay up late, which is called Shousui. During this time, the lights in your house must stay on because people believe that the light can drive away evil spirits. Nowadays, people usually go to sleep at midnight on New Year's Day.
2. No Sweeping.
During the Lunar New Year, there are often red paper scraps on the ground left by fireworks. People believe these are symbols of good luck. If you sweep them away, it might bring you bad luck in the new year.
3. No Washing.
On 1st day of the first lunar month and the second day are the birthdays of the Water God. Washing on these 2 days might wash away all the good fortune for the year.
You should wash your hair and clothes cleanly on New Year's Eve. This also symbolizes washing away bad luck from the past year.
4. No Breaking of Anything.
It is considered a bad omen if you break anything, especially plates or dishes. It means you are breaking your connection to prosperity and good luck.
But in modern society, it doesn't matter if children accidentally break dishes, as long as their parents immediately say "岁岁平安 suì suì píng ān" (may you have peace, year after year). 岁 (suì) is a homophone of 碎 (suì) in Chinese, which means "broken" or "shattered".
5. No Unlucky Words.
You should speak kind and lucky words, and not say any words that are insulting or mean. For example, if you want to say someone has gone, you can use "Pass away" instead of "die".
Words like "unlucky", "bad", "terrible", or "not so good" should not be said, because they will ruin the happy and peaceful atmosphere of Spring Festival.
6. No Porridge and no Meat.
It is believed that only poor people eat porridge in the morning, and therefore doing so will prevent you from getting prosperous in the coming new year.
Besides, it is said that the morning is the New Year Festival for all gods who arrive to greet the new year, so try not to eat meat in the morning, to show respect for them.
Learn what is the lucky food in Chinese New Year.
7. No Medicine and Hospital Visits.
Taking medicine during the Lunar New Year is believed to bring constant illnesses throughout the year. So, according to the custom, if someone is sick, they will break their medicine jar when the New Year's bell rings, hoping to stay away from diseases in the new year. Of course, if you feel unwell, you should still see a doctor in time.
8. No Crying and Fighting.
When people encounter sad or bad things, they may cry. But the Spring Festival is a joyful day, so you should keep a positive mindset to welcome the new year. Fighting means there is a conflict between two people, and it will ruin the harmonious atmosphere of the new year.
9. No Killing.
Killing can lead to unlucky events like knife wounds, wars, and bleeding. Using sharp tools is considered unlucky and may affect your luck and safety for the whole year. So, not killing living beings is seen as a way to prevent bad luck.
10. No Lending or Borrowing.
On the first day of the new year, the God of Wealth gives money to every family. But if you ask someone to pay back your money on that day, the God of Wealth will think you are already rich and someone owes you money, so he will give your family less money.
Also, you shouldn't borrow money from others, because if you do, people say you will be poor forever and won't make much money in the next year.
11. No Scissors or Knives.
Scissors and knives are mostly used on operating tables in hospitals. Using scissors means you might easily get hurt throughout the whole year, and it's also believed that it will cut off your good fortune for the whole year.
12. Don't Wear Torn Clothes.
With the arrival of the New Year, everything will be renewed. Wearing torn clothes goes against the festive atmosphere of the New Year and may bring bad luck to you. The color of clothes should not be white or black, because these two colors are related to funerals. You should try to choose red clothes.
Or you can choose a lucky color and dress yourself up.
13. Don't Buy Shoes.
In Cantonese, the pronunciation of "shoes" is similar to the sound of people sighing. So buying shoes during the New Year is considered unlucky, as it may cause people to sigh uncontrollably and encounter various misfortunes.
14. Refrigerator Shouldn't Be Empty.
During Chinese New Year, people will buy a lot of food to fill the refrigerator, symbolizing that they won't go hungry in the new year. It also shows their wishes for abundance every year.
15. A Married Daughter Should Not Visit Her Parents on New Year's Day.
A married daughter is not allowed to visit the house of her parents, otherwise, she may bring bad luck to her parents and the family. Traditionally, a married daughter will go to visit her parents on the second day of the new year.
As people's minds gradually open up, many people no longer believe in these conservative taboos on Chinese New Year. However, some older people still don't want to do things that might affect their luck in the coming year. But these are all part of Chinese New Year traditions. We should view them with a rational eye, neither blindly following nor blindly rejecting them.