[Feature] Chinese New Year 2017

Happy Chinese New Year! This year Chinese New Year falls on January 28th, 2017 and is the year of the Rooster! Chinese people believe that a good start to the year will lead to a lucky year therefore there are a lot of traditions and taboos that come with this holiday. Below are a few reminders of what you should and should not do on Chinese New Year. =D

Chinese New Year actually span a whole 16 days starting from Chinese New Year Even to the 15th of the Lunar calendar with different meanings and task for each day. I think some different part of the country and different region of China celebrate it differently but some traditions like getting red envelopes (one of the best part of the holiday) and fire crackers are the same.  I know I don’t follow these traditions rigorously but they are interesting to know about. You can read more on it here.

Some interesting taboos include:

• No sweeping or wash their hair as that will sweep/wash away good luck.
• No begging: To ask for a loan is a big “no-no”.
• No crying because that will bring bad luck.
• Should not finish your CNY eve’s meal: to have surplus for the year.
• No cutting your hair: cut away luck
• No eating porridge: represents poverty

Some interesting must-haves/do:

• Wearing red underwear on the day of
• Reunite with family for the Chinese New Year Eve
• Fish for the Chinese New Year Eve meal because fish in Chinese sounds like excess. Also, in certain area, the head and tail of the fish shouldn’t be eaten until the beginning of the year, which expresses the hope that the year will start and finish with surplus.
• Visit the temple
• Wear red new clothing. Bright red clothing to scare away the evil spirits.
• Hang the word luck upside down to invite luck into your home.
• Decorate your house with a lot of red (lanterns etc.)
• Dragon dance (mainly for businesses) to bring in fortune
• ASK YOUR PARENTS FOR RED ENVELOPES!!!!! Most important! =D

Chinese greetings from your celebrities! 

From the cast of Three Lives Three Worlds – Rap version

From the cast of Fighter of Destiny

 

From the performers of 2017 CCTV Spring Festival Gala

Wang Kai

HuGe

Jiang Xin

Wang Zi Wen

Zhang Yixing

Luhan and William Chan

Jackie Chan

Liu Tao

The ladies from Ode to Joy!

TFBoys

From Zhao Liying

This one is too cute!! =D

Please feel free to share any interesting traditions/taboos that your family have for when celebrating Chinese New Year. (It’s always interesting to know =D)

Have a wonderful 2017 Chinese/Lunar New Year!!!