The Lunar New Year dictates the trajectory of your entire year. Consequently, the first few days of the festival are heavily guarded by ancient superstitions. Doing the wrong thing on New Year’s Day isn’t just a faux pas; it is believed to actively invite poverty, illness, or disaster into your life.
Here are the top things you must avoid during the Spring Festival.
1. Do Not Sweep or Take Out the Trash
Before New Year’s Eve, you must thoroughly clean your house to sweep away the bad luck of the past year. However, on New Year’s Day, all brooms and dustpans must be hidden. Sweeping the floor or throwing out the garbage means you are sweeping your newly arrived wealth and good fortune right out the front door.
2. No Washing or Cutting Hair
In Mandarin, the word for hair (发, fa) is the exact same character and pronunciation as the first word in fa cai (to become wealthy). Washing your hair on the first day of the New Year is seen as literally “washing your fortune away.” Cutting your hair is even worse, symbolizing the severing of wealth.
3. Do Not Say Negative Words
Words hold immense power during the festival. All negative words—such as death, sick, empty, pain, poor, or ghost—are strictly forbidden. If a child accidentally says something unlucky, an adult will immediately wipe their mouth with a napkin or say “Children’s words carry no harm” (童言无忌) to neutralize the bad omen.
4. Avoid Breaking Ceramics or Glass
Breaking a bowl, plate, or glass is a harbinger of a broken family or scattered wealth. If an accident happens, the fragments must immediately be wrapped in red paper, and people must shout “Sui sui ping an” (岁岁平安)—a clever pun that translates to “Safe and sound year after year,” using the homophone for “shattered” (碎) and “year” (岁).
5. No Sharp Objects
Scissors, needles, and knives should be locked away on the first day. Using sharp objects is believed to sever the “threads of good luck” and invite sharp, prickly conflicts into your relationships for the next twelve months.
6. Do Not Eat Porridge for Breakfast
In ancient times, only the poorest families who couldn’t afford solid rice ate porridge (congee) for breakfast. Eating porridge on the morning of New Year’s Day is a bad omen that you will remain impoverished for the rest of the year.
7. Do Not Demand Debt Repayment
All debts must be settled before New Year’s Eve. If someone owes you money, it is highly taboo to knock on their door to demand repayment during the festival. Doing so brings bad luck to both the debtor and the lender.
8. Avoid Wearing Black or White
In traditional Chinese culture, black and white are the colors of mourning and funerals. The New Year is a time for bright, vibrant colors—specifically red, gold, and yellow—which attract positive Yang energy.
9. Do Not Wake Someone Up
You should not wake a sleeping person on New Year’s morning, nor should you give them New Year greetings while they are still in bed. It is believed that doing so will condemn them to being bedridden or exhausted for the entire year.
10. Avoid Taking Medicine
Unless someone is chronically ill or facing a medical emergency, taking medicine or brewing herbal remedies on the first day of the year is avoided. It signifies that you will be plagued by sickness for the coming year.
