How You Should Have Prepared for Chinese New Year


By Lauren Mack
Artwork By Dennis Huang

The two-week long Lunar New Year holiday began Jan. 29, 2006, and Xpat is here to let you know what you should have done to welcome the Year of the Dog, the 11th year in the 12-year Zodiac cycle to ward off evil spirits. Chinese New Year is steeped in many symbolic ancient traditions, homophonic plays on words, and superstitions. We’re going to tell you how you probably cursed yourself with bad luck, and how to avoid the same pitiful fate next year.

Next year you should:

1. Buy flowers
Considered the most important decorative item for the home, flowers are a must. The word for flower in Chinese, “fa,” sounds like fortune, “fat.” Each flower is significant. Orchids are for fertility, kumquat trees are for wealth and plum blossoms are for the unmarried to find someone. Don’t know which to pick? Go with an orange tree because orange, “chang,” sounds like abundance, “zhan.” Unlike the dead flowers, you can eat the oranges later.

2. Get a haircut
Cutting anything from noodles to hair during the holiday is considered bad luck. Hey, you needed a haircut anyway.

 

3. Get a new wardrobe
Why? Just ‘cause it’s a good excuse to look good on New Year’s Day and everyone else is doing it.
4. Clean the house. For the Taiwanese, it’s out with the old – literally. Old dirt, literally and figuratively, is swept from the house to prepare for a fresh start in the New Year. Now’s the time to do that massive spring cleaning you’ve been putting off. Superstition dictates you sweep outward toward the door for maximum effect.

  

5. Go to the temple
Although it is not a religious holiday, many Taiwanese go to temples to give thanks to their ancestors. So, do as the Taiwanese do and go visit your neighborhood temple.5. Go to the temple. Although it is not a religious holiday, many Taiwanese go to temples to give thanks to their ancestors. So, do as the Taiwanese do and go visit your neighborhood temple.

6. Get some snazzy decorations
C’mon, you know you’ve secretly longed for those red and gold envelopes, paper lanterns, fake firecrackers, and red scrolls to decorate your pad. Now you have an excuse to put them up. The red scrolls are especially nice because they include the gold characters for “prosperity, longevity, and happiness” – all wishes you want in the New Year. Tip: Hang the scrolls upside down because the word “dao” sounds like the Chinese word ‘arrive’. Hang them in doorways to encourage good fortune’s arrival.

7. Show me the money
On New Year’s Day, it’s payday. While families visit friends and relatives, children and unmarried adults are given “hong bao” or “lai see” – red envelopes, containing lucky money. The amount of money varies, from $1 to $100 or more. So start making friends!

8. Eat up!
The majority of the holiday is spent eating large meals and visiting relatives and friends. Whole fish, glutinous rice, and noodles are symbolic food staples. Fish, “fu,” is for fortune, “tong yuen,” sticky rice ball soup, symbolizes togetherness, and long uncut noodles are for longevity. Breaking anything is bad luck whether it is the fish’s skeleton, the noodles, or the plates.

9. Mind your manners
It is customary to bring a housewarming gift to someone’s home. We suggest a calendar, orange tree, or “nian gao,” Lunar New Year cake, a sweet, sticky dessert similar to pudding and made of glutinous rice, a symbol of cohesiveness.

10. Throw firecrackers
According to legend, a man-eating dragon named Nian, “year,” could only be scared away by fire. Thousands of firecrackers are thrown in the streets to scare away the dragon and bad fortune. The more firecrackers the better.