The Lunar New Year, the time of year that is just as enjoyable as Christmas, where instead of colourful and beautifully wrapped gifts, children receive crimson coloured packets chock full of cash (not really, considering the global economic recession) with gleeful looks on their faces. We always celebrate the New Year on every 31st of December, which marks the beginning of the New Year on the Roman calendar. However we also celebrate Chinese New Year’s Eve on the Chinese Lunar Calendar that was on 26 January this year.

This is the festival where we bring out the old year and usher in the new one. This festival was never really a festival in the first place. It was actually a precaution towards monsters and demons. This great occasion was started because of a certain monster that was called ‘Nian’. In modern Mandarin, ‘Nian’ means year but in this case, it means a powerful monster who came to villages to terrorise its occupants every new year.

People found out that the monster was easily frightened by the colour red. This discovery was made when a child who was wearing the colour could not get to safety in time and got caught by the ‘Nian’. However the monster was frightened off at the sight of the red garments the child wore. The villagers then understood that the beast was frightened of the colour red. Armed with this knowledge, all the villagers decorated their houses with red paper and crimson lanterns. They even released firecrackers every night to frighten off the beast. This festival was actually called ‘Guo Nian’ which meant ‘Observe the Nian’. Later on, it became the ‘Happy Chinese New Year’ we all know and celebrate.

Superstitions of the Lunar New Year are observed by the older generations but there are spiritual reasons and rationales behind these traditions. Do not buy these things during Chinese New Year: shoes, books, or clocks. Shoes are homophonic to the Chinese character ‘rough’ and are believed to bring in evil. Books are homophonic to the character ‘lose’ in the Chinese language. In Chinese tradition, buying a clock is as good as saying that you have a limited lifespan.

Many of us especially understand that sweeping or cleaning will only oust away good. Rubbish should be transferred to the corners of the room and only dealt with on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. Sweeping after the New Year, dust has to be swept inwards then carried out of the house through the back door. Then again, the easiest way is to just do a spring cleaning session before the festivities.

Never utter the number four at all or never do anything related to that number at all. In the Chinese language, four is homophonic to the word ‘death’. Do not arrange objects in fours, do not show that number on decorations or mention it to the elders. Do your utmost best to avoid that number in order to enjoy a peaceful new year.

Now, let us cut all the negative talk about superstitions and skip straight to the good part, the superstitions that (supposedly) bring good merits into your life. Are you scared of the dark? That is a good fear to have on Chinese New Year because keeping the lights lit on the first night of the Lunar New Year wards off evil spirits.

Wearing new slippers on the first day of the New Year instead of shoes indicates that you will crush people who gossip about you. Sweets are always prepared for the guests to ensure that everyone gets a ‘sweet’ year. Oh and one more thing, red is the luckiest colour of the festival, so be sure to stock up on new red garments.

The traditions are adopted by our ancestors, we, the new generation should look ahead and strive for better things while at the same time, preserve the beauty of the cultures and the ways of the old to preserve the identity of our race. Wishing you a happy and prosperous New Year to all Cempakans.

Gong Xi Fa Cai.