Here’s to a prosperous Year of the Rooster

� Welcoming the New Year

Stay up as late as possible tonight. New Year’s Eve symbolizes the link between two years,
and prolonging the connection is believed to extend life.

� Don’t eat chicken, don’t wear black

Don’t eat chicken tonight or tomorrow so as not to offend the rooster.

� Don’t wash your hair or sweep the floor

Hair has the same pronunciation as the word for prosperity in Chinese,
and washing hair is seen as washing away good fortune.
It is believed that if you use a broom on the day, then you’d be sweeping your luck away.

� Put away sharp objects

Use of knives or scissors is a no-no because it is seen as “cutting away wealth”.

� Rice jar

Fill your rice jar or bread bin, because an empty food storage receptacle is seen as a bad omen.

� Debt

Pay all debts before the stroke of midnight tonight,
it is believed that if you carry your debt into the Chinese New Year you will face a life of owing money to others.

Chinese New Year – the Year of the Rooster – starts tomorrow,
but celebrations begins tonight and will continue right until the Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the new year.