Embracing Lunar New Year Traditions: The Taboos That Shape Fortune
As the Year of the Fire Horse thunders into view, Chinese customs dictate a series of avoidances to secure good fortune for the coming months. Karen Gray, drawing on her heritage as a Chinese woman raised in Singapore, explains why practices like washing your hair or sweeping floors today could spell disaster for your prosperity.
The Critical First Days: What Not to Do
The lunar new year, also known as the spring festival, marks the start of a new cycle on the traditional lunisolar calendar. It begins with the new moon and concludes at the full moon, spanning fifteen days of celebration and ritual. Gray emphasizes that the initial two days demand particular attention to a long list of dos and don'ts.
According to Chinese tradition, no dusting or sweeping is permitted throughout the entire fifteen-day period. Doing so risks sweeping away good fortune and prosperity. While Gray admits she only strictly adheres to this rule on the first couple of days, she maintains the broader prohibition against haircuts for the full season.
The Chinese word for hair is a homonym for prosperity, meaning that cutting hair could sever wealth and fortune. This logic extends to washing hair on the first day, as it might wash away the year's potential blessings.
Additional Superstitions to Heed
Wearing red clothing is believed to attract good luck and ward off evil spirits, while black and white—colors associated with mourning—should be avoided. Other taboos include taking out rubbish, which could break your connection to good fortune, and lending money, as it may cause wealth to flow away for the rest of the year.
Crying and arguments on the first day are also forbidden, as they might foreshadow conflicts throughout the year. The week leading up to the new year is typically filled with preparations like meal planning and cleaning to ensure a fresh start.
The Year of the Fire Horse: A Rare and Intense Combination
This particular lunar year, the Fire Horse, is described in Chinese metaphysics as full of momentum and bold transformation, yet also unruly and combustible. The fusion of the horse zodiac animal with the fire element is considered rare and intense, prompting one of Gray's friends to remark, "it makes me want to go lie down."
Growing up, Gray's family observed vegetarian diets during the new moon and full moon phases, a practice rooted in Buddhist culture. She notes the parallels between Chinese deities, such as the Goddess of Mercy or the Kitchen God, and Christian saints, highlighting a god for every aspect of life.
Chinamaxxing: A Trend Celebrating Chinese Culture
Gray discusses the rise of Chinamaxxing, a trend where individuals embrace Chinese customs and identity. Popularized by figures like Chinese-American TikTok creator Sherry Zhu, it features memes, insights into traditional Chinese medicine, and humorous takes on millennia of culture.
This movement has brought practices like drinking warm water—once a whispered request among Chinese visitors in London—into the mainstream. Gray reflects on her own journey toward becoming a "full-blown Chinese auntie," incorporating remedies like dong quai for perimenopause symptoms and expanding her collection of medicated oils for various ailments.
Food, Wellness, and Cultural Identity
For Chinese aunties, food and wellness are intertwined, with ingredients carrying energetic properties to balance yin and yang. Gray emphasizes the centrality of food in Chinese culture, even joking about the prized cordyceps fungus in traditional medicine amid popular media portrayals.
Living in London for over 25 years, Gray has navigated her Chinese identity under Western scrutiny. She finds liberation in Gen-Z's embrace of Chinese culture through Chinamaxxing, hoping it evolves beyond a fad to foster appreciation for Chinese history, diaspora, and diversity.
A Call for Multicultural Understanding
Gray notes that her Straits-Chinese heritage includes specific customs, and she cautions against viewing Chinese culture as monolithic. Her ancestors migrated from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Fujian to Singapore and Indonesia, preserving traditions while integrating into local communities.
The key takeaway, she argues, is how migrant groups can integrate without losing their ancestral soul. As the Fire Horse year unfolds, Gray envisions a revolution of multiculturalism where coexisting cultural identities thrive—as long as we remember not to cut our hair.
