Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
Chinese New Year starts on Tuesday the 1st of February 2022 and the celebrations will be taking place between the 31st of January and the 6th of February.
2022 is the Year of the Tiger. Chinese New Year started as a spring festival where, when planting the seeds, people prayed for a good harvest.
People get together for a large celebration – there are many customs that bring good luck and some that take it away! Fireworks, special foods, gift exchanges are all part of the festival. Gifts must be given in equal numbers. Odd numbers are unlucky. Red is a lucky colour in China and many decorations will be red – lanterns, banners, etc. – many clothes that are worn for the celebration, will all be red. Little red envelopes with money in them are given to children as symbols of prosperity and happiness.
What people do during the Chinese New Year determines each person’s luck for the year.
Some of the unlucky customs:
- Don’t eat porridge, that brings poverty
- Don’t wash away your good fortune by washing your hair
- Don’t do any sewing
- Don’t wash clothes – that too washes away good luck
- Don’t sweep the floor and sweep away your wealth!
- Don’t use scissors or knives, they cut away wealth
- Don’t visit people in hospital, that brings illness
- Don’t break crockery, it brings bad luck
- Don’t kill animals, it causes misfortune
- Don’t cry, that brings bad luck
- Don’t wear black or white, they are unlucky colours
- Don’t give odd amounts of money that’s unlucky
- Don’t take any medicine or you will be ill for the whole year
- Certain gifts would bring bad luck to the recipient
- Married daughters should not visit their parents on New Year’s day, that would bring bad luck to her parents.
- Crying children brings bad luck to the family
This and many more beautiful images of decorations prepared for the coming festival can be found at: https://trevallog.com/chinatown-chinese-new-year-2022/