Chinese New Year marks the dawn of a time of fierce adventure and vigour

A new year is always about the unknowns; inevitably there will be good, bad and even some ugly

30 January 2022 - 00:03 By Ufrieda Ho
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A sneak peek of a mural at Mon Amour, a new-concept eatery coming to Franschoek in March.
A sneak peek of a mural at Mon Amour, a new-concept eatery coming to Franschoek in March.
Image: Mon Amour

Shampoo is not your friend, my mom would say — at least not on Chinese New Year’s Day.

As superstitions go — and Chinese New Year has its fair share — washing your hair on that most auspicious of auspicious days is letting your good fortune spiral down the drain. It’s an odd association bound together by homophones and metaphors. In Cantonese the word for hair is tau faat — it sounds like the word for inviting good fortune, faat choi.

Of course, if you ask my mom, she’d swear blind she’s not superstitious at all. Closer to the truth though, my mom, like most Chinese families, sticks to a list of dos and don’ts over New Year’s, making quirky rituals part of the traditional preparation for each lunar new year.

It begins with cleaning the home, sweeping and washing (your hair too) in the days before the new year so that on New Year’s Day itself you allow the luck to settle. Cleaning is symbolic of sweeping and washing away the old, discarding the unnecessary and seeing the back of bad luck from an outgoing year to allow new abundance to freely flow into the home.

Pantries are stocked up and a menu for feasting is plotted. The dishes chosen are also those with a homophonic connection to luck and happiness or are symbolic of the best wishes for a new year. There’s a deliberate abandon to gluttony, symbolising celebration and abundance.

Every family has its own favourites, but served up on New Year’s Eve could be everything from bak cham gai, a whole chicken (traditionally the head stays on because “beak to tail” represents continuity of good beginnings and good endings) poached in aromatics and served with hot oil and soya sauce and everything from heaps of ginger and scallions to dumplings for their shape of gold ingots; prawns because the name for them sounds like laughter; and nian gao, a sweet sticky rice cake. It translates literally as “year tall”, so it's a sweet wish for growth and reaching new heights.

And the dishes on the menu should be in even numbers. In fact most things should be in pairs over New Year’s, including gifting and the giving of lei see, the red lucky envelopes that hold monetary gifts that should also add up to an even number, though not the number four because it sounds like the word for death. Eight is especially good because it rhymes with faat.

Red lanterns at the Lantern Festival, symbolic of people letting go of their past selves and getting new ones.
Red lanterns at the Lantern Festival, symbolic of people letting go of their past selves and getting new ones.
Image: Vernon Raineil Cenzon

Houses over the New Year period are filled with flowers and fruits like tangerines and oranges for their shape of roundness and completeness; and trays of ground nuts, melon seeds, dried fruits and sweets are laid out for family and friends.

Everything red and gold is displayed, including fai chun, the decorations of lucky words placed on front doors and in hallways. Dressing in red and bright colours is a must, and where it’s allowed loud fireworks are set off to ward off bad spirits.

Each family tweaks things a little. And for Chinese South Africans and Chinese living in SA, many make do with subdued celebrations because there aren’t as many days of public holidays as there are in the East.

In countries that observe Lunar New Year celebrations the festivities continue until the 15th day of the new year, ending with the Lantern Festival. Traditionally, during the Lantern Festival, children go out at night carrying paper lanterns and solve riddles on the lanterns. The lanterns are symbolic of people letting go of their past selves and getting new ones, which they will let go of the next year.

A traditional table setting for Chinese New Year.
A traditional table setting for Chinese New Year.
Image: 123rf.com/amarosy

In SA, celebrations in Johannesburg before Covid used to entail street parties in the two Chinatowns — Cyrildene near Bruma Lake and Commissioner Street in the city centre — and at the Nan Hua Temple in Bronkhorstspruit. For another year though it will mostly be what happens around the dinner table, perhaps with the distant pop and wheeze of fireworks somewhere.

It may also just be a note on a page in a Western diary or a quiet lighting of incense at an altar for a dead loved one not forgotten at this time of celebration of family and reunion.

Personal interpretation of ways of celebration is the natural evolution of tradition. It’s also meant more tweaks from my mom’s list of rituals to follow, like not flipping over a whole steamed fish to get to the flesh on the other side of the bone or not leaving shoes flipped over.

She also still warns of not breaking anything on New Year’s Eve; no mishaps such as dropping a cup on the floor, for example, or getting a rip or tear in your clothes. She would call these bad omens for the next 12 moons, marked by brokenness. 

These superstitions left clumsy, growing-up me on edge towards the midnight countdown, trying not to drop a glass or sprain an ankle. I was probably more scared of my mom’s scolding than displeasing any gods or deities.

But New Year’s is always the time of reunion, celebrations, of forgiveness, family, generosity and sharing abundance — mom would not be grumpy for long even if a piece of her crockery happened to not make it intact into the new year.

This year is the third year in the 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle and dawns as the Year of the Tiger, marked on the Gregorian calendar as February 1 2022. The same kinds of superstitions, taboos and interplay of luck and misfortune make up the myths, celebrations and anticipation of the new year.

Traditionally the year you’re born in — Tigers this year — is considered in Chinese astrology a year of caution, challenge and needing more considered reflection in decision making, investments, relationships or even moving house. It’s said that as your ben ming nian (the year of your zodiac) arrives it attracts the attention of the god of good and bad fortune, Tai Sui.

Staying off Tai Sui’s astrological radar means finding ways to not offend Tai Sui. For the pious this means offerings and prayers to be made at the start of the new year. For everyone else, wearing red underwear or socks will help.

Wearing red anything returns your luck. You can also wear or keep a jade amulet or piece of jewellery on you. Jade is the precious stone associated with warding off crises and storms; it restores calm and a sense of peace so good health, wealth and happiness are invited back.

A new year is always about the unknowns; inevitably there will be good, bad and even some ugly. Ultimately, we strive for a return to balance, also to stay in the moment. And the present calls for preparing for feasting and celebrating to welcome the vigour, fearlessness and spirit of adventure of a Tiger year. And then it’s to receive the ever-gold Chinese New Year greeting: sun nien fai lok — happy new year to you!


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