Laughs

5 Chinese New Year Taboos that are just so DIFFICULT to Follow

2018-01-22 , 10:55 am

Last Updated on 2022-02-01 , 9:54 am

Before I begin, let me say this: I truly and genuinely appreciate (respect!) our CNY customs.

However, I AM also extremely aware of how some of these customs inconvenience us. Behold, these are the 5 CNY customs that are extremely difficult to follow…

Not washing your hair on the first day of CNY

Difficulty level: pretty extreme…
…Especially during the infamous murderously-hot CNY drought-like weather. The entire day of the first day of CNY is pretty much a sweat-fest: you sweat so hard when you wake up; you get sweat patches under your armpits while greeting your relatives (and hope your deodorant’s actually doing its job); sweat gathers on your forehead while you add extra chilli padi to your food, etc, etc.

By the end of the day, you feel like you’re doing your body a disservice by not dunking globs of shampoo onto your hair.

But hey, if you’re serious about not wanting to wash your luck away, you can opt for a shower cap.

Not using knives/scissors/sharp objects to avoid cutting off your fortune.

Difficulty level: sort-of extreme.
If we truly adhered to this, we would have a lot of trouble doing the simple stuff – like cooking, for example, or cutting off price tags (unless you have the ability to rip them away in a manly, macho fashion).

I suppose you can choose to chop up all of your meats beforehand and freeze them, but what if you’re a chef and you have to use knives no matter what?

Getting dressed in the living room as it is considered unlucky to greet anyone in their bedroom.

Difficulty level: not too bad, but could lead to discomfort.

This one is tricky. I don’t suppose anyone really fancies getting dressed in a common area. Apparently, even the sick are supposed to follow this. Would you rather have your privacy or follow this superstition? To each his own, my friend, to each his own.

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Complicated house cleaning…wait, how does it work again?

Difficulty level: over 9000

I understand the idea of a huge spring-cleaning before the first day of CNY, because hey it’s CNY and you want your house to look sparkly clean. HOWEVER, it is stated that on the first day of CNY, no sweeping/cleaning should be done in order not to sweep your luck away.

Unfortunately, many of us will know that the messiest of things CAN happen when hordes of children trample your place and spill cookie bits on your marble floors. Apparently, after the first day, floors may be swept but they are to be swept in a special way – they should be swept to the middle of the parlor, then to the corner, and not taken out until the fifth day.

Also, it is said that rubbish always must be swept inwards and then carried out to avoid sweeping your good fortune away. Furthermore, rubbish must be taken out of the back door…etc, etc.

Someone should make a CNY cleaning guide, because I’m bad at cleaning AND at following instructions.

Checking which direction is the most auspicious before heading out.

Difficulty level: impossible
If I had to follow this superstition, I would have to move houses.

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