Chinese New Year Superstitions: Things You Mustn’t Do

Chinese people traditionally believe that the year’s start affects the whole year, so China’s Spring Festival is a season of superstitions. It’s believed that what something looks like (color, shape), and what its name sounds like, gives it auspicious or ill-fated significance. There are many things you cannot do:

• Don’t sweep up on New Year’s Day, otherwise you’ll ‘sweep all your luck away’.
• Don’t eat porridge for breakfast, otherwise you’ll ‘become poor in the upcoming year’.
• Don’t wash your clothes and hair (on New Year’s Day), otherwise you’ll ‘wash fortune away’.