Chinese New Year is almost here, many people believe if you want good feng shui all year it is important to celebrate Chinese New Year. Every year it falls on the first new moon of the year and typically the Chinese culture makes this a long celebration, they celebrate for the first 15 days of the New Year. Many of us cannot spare this amount of time, but we can all prepare in advance to take advantage of the new moon abundance and prosperity. We know the traditions for the calendar New Year – 1st January, but the Chinese New Year traditions are different and this year it begins on February 10th – ‘Year of the Wood Dragon’. This date is very important as this marks the change in the ‘time feng shui energies’ for the upcoming year (the flying stars energies move to their new sectors).
Following tradition is a particularly important part of the Chinese New Year, and it is full of symbolism for escorting out the old energy and welcoming in the new energies.
Tips on what to do and what not to do at Chinese New Year:
Two days before Chinese New Year
- Declutter your home.
- Declutter your handbag or wallet.
- Clean your home so it is sparkling, this is a great Chinese custom.
- Clean windows.
- Clean oven, microwave, and fridge, sort out your freezer too.
- Change all the beds.
- Buy a new welcome mat for your front door.
- Buy new clothes ready to wear for Chinese New Year.
- Fix any leaks and throw out anything that is broken.
Your lovely clean house will now be open to new opportunities and possibilities.
The day before Chinese New Year
- Write out all your wishes and goals for 2024. If you did not do this on January 1st, then you have another opportunity. What do you want to achieve in your life?
- Buy fresh flowers or a lovely plant. If you have a plant that blooms on Chinese New Year this signifies your upcoming year will be full of prosperity.
Chinese New Year
- Wear new clothes today. New clothes represent new energy. Wear red to give yourself an extra boost of abundance.
- Drink a big glass of fresh orange juice with your breakfast. The oranges represent gold and abundance.
- Do not cook on the first day of Chinese New Year. You can either prepare the food the day before, make a finger food buffet, or take your family out for a lovely meal. The reason for this is if you use knives or scissors, you are cutting off the good fortune for the rest of the year.
- Do not do any cleaning today! It is not very often that anyone says this to you, so take advantage while you can. If you sweep and clean you are sweeping your good fortune out of the door.
- Try your best to have a relaxing, happy, stress-free day. Avoid any upset, yelling, anger outbursts, or swearing as it is believed that it is bad to start the New Year angry.
- Place a red envelope (like the one featured below) on the wall next to your front door. Inside it, you can place Chinese Coins or your wishes. Please hang this ‘upside down’ (with the opening flap at the bottom). I have one to the right of my front door. I touch it every time I go out of my door.
- This is my favourite tradition of all, buy oranges and stand outside your front door. Roll the oranges through the front door, along the floor into your home; this represents rolling abundance in through your door or rolling gold into your home. This is great fun when your family and friends join in too. Then you can pick up your oranges, place them in your fruit bowl, and invite everyone to eat and enjoy them.
