Happy New Year!

Welcome to the Year of the Rooster.

As you probably already know, much of the traditional celebration around Chinese New Year is governed by the idea of luck, good and bad. For good luck, cook and serve a whole fish, decorate your house in red and wear red clothing, spend time with your family, give gifts of money. All of these are said to bring good luck for the coming year.

But if you want to avoid bad luck for the Year of the Rooster, here are some things it is said you should never do on this day.

1. Cut your hair

This is said to represent cutting your life short. Eek!

2. Eat your fish incorrectly

A whole fish represents a whole life, beginning, middle and end, so never serve just a piece of fish. But never finish it because leftover food means you will always have luck and prosperity.

3. Anything involving the number 4

Because the Chinese character for ‘4’ also sounds like ‘death’.

5. Clean your home

You’ll sweep away the good luck!

6. Give the wrong gift

Even thinking about giving certain items can supposedly bring bad luck. Examples include clocks (the character ‘to give a clock’ sounds like ‘to go to a funeral’), shoes (the character sounds the same as ‘evil’), mirrors (these are said to attract bad spirits into the home) and pears (the character sounds the same as ‘splitting up’). So it’s best to stick to cash.

Interesting, no?

However you’re spending your day, may the Year of the Rooster be filled with luck and prosperity for you all. Happy New Year!