Happy Chinese New Year 2015

Happy Chinese New Year 2015

• February 19, 2015

Happy Chinese New Year to my readers and everyone who is celebrating! 

Gong Hei Fat Choi!

2015 is the year of the goat (or sheep), you can find out what's in store for you this year depending on your animal birth year. Chinese new year is a time to celebrate with lots and lots of food, and most definitely with family and friends. 

Whilst I do not have much planned this year, here are a few traditions that I follow every year:

1   No washing hair on the first day of new year (supposedly first 3 days, but I can't last that long!). Hair has the same sound as 'Rich' so washing your hair would mean washing away your riches for the forthcoming year

2   No new haircut for the first 15 days of new year (that how long CNY is!). As with the above, this would symbolise cutting away your riches

3   No new shoe shopping for the first 15 days of new year. Shoes have the same sound you make when sighing, and you wouldn't want the rest of your year to be full of sighs!

4   Feasting on Chinese New Year's Eve (18th Feb 2015) with family and friends. This year was low key with no symbolic or auspicious dishes but any feast with family and friends will toast to the spirit of CNY

5   Eating vegetarian food on the first day of New Year. This is a Buddhist tradition we have always observed in our family, starting off the new year without 'killing' for food. The main meal of the day is full of auspicious veggie dishes. In the past few year, I've gone all out and eat vegetarian food for the entire day

6   Wear new clothes and new shoes on New Years Day. Oops, I forgot to wear my new shoes today, but I have new clothes on

7   On New Years Eve, bath with mandarin/orange/lime/grapefruit leaves. This washes away all the bad things from the past year. Easy to make, just boil the leaves in a pan of water and pour a few small cups (mix it with cold water first or wait for it to cool down!) over yourself in the bath/shower and make sure you grab some of the leaves to 'sweep' yourself from the bad of last year

8   And finally, this one is not so fun for me anymore - handing out Laisee! Lucky packets containing money are handed out by married couples to the young and the unmarried. All the babies and kids, form an orderly queue!  

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