Chinese New Year Customs (pt 2): A Week Before New Year

People use this week to clean and sweep the house. It is prohibited to sweep the house on New Year day. According to Chinese New Year customs, sweeping the house on New Year means you will sweep out all the good luck.

One rule you should know about sweeping, you can only sweep the dust within the house and not out the front door. When everything is finish, you may take the dust out through the back door. People believe that if you sweep the dust out the front door, then you sweep money out the front door.

Also, during this time, the Chinese natives will go out to clean up their family tombstone and altar at the local temple as well.

Before stepping into a new year, everybody needs to be free of debt. All the family debt needs to be taken care of at this time. A simple explanation is that you should not bring the old year's problems into the next year. It is considered to bring bad luck.

Also, you should not lend anyone money or anything during New Year. According the Chinese New Year customs, when you let people borrow during the first couple days of the year, that will be your fate for the rest of the year. However, if you are a banker, by all mean do so.

There is one tricky part. As a lender, you may not ask people to pay back their debt during this time; however, it is the borrower's responsibility to return the money. You should not ask for a payment at this time (especially on the 1st day of the New Year) because you may get beat up. Don't say I didn't warn you.

House decoration...

House decoration is an art by itself. Everything will be decorated in red. From the outside looking in, the first thing you will notice is the line of poetry in calligraphy on each side of the door and gate.

The meaning of these lines is to wish everyone a happy New Year, and also to scare away the evil spirit. Red lanterns will be hanged around the house for the same reason.

The calligraphy will be on red paper. When you look closely, you will notice the word "Spring" is written upside down. People believe that writing the word "Spring" upside down will cause luck to stay inside the house and not fly out.

As you step into the house, on each wall there will be pictures of children playing and the God of Fortune. The children on these drawings will be fat. In China's culture, fat means good health and luck.

Thank you for joining me today. Please check back for future updates. From where I am and wherever you are, have a warm holiday and good luck, everybody.

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