“We not not only nurture our sacred relationships through ritual, but we are nurtured by them as well, in ritual, we move and we are moved.”
– Alison Leigh Lilly
Here we go again! Another turn of the wheel to begin anew. Chinese New Year is around the corner. This significant event has the agency to deeply move our Ch’i and elevate our life force. Customs, practiced over thousands of years by millions around the world, reset our homes and renew our abundance for the coming year. It’s a hopeful moment when create an advantageous start with Chinese New Year rituals. You and your family will certainly enjoy the delectable foods, fireworks, laughter and fun. Host a reunion dinner and invite friends to bring a good fortune dish that everyone may take home good luck.
The Year of the Yin Water Rabbit begins January 22, 2023. January 21 the rituals begin. Chinese New Year rituals include color, plants, fruit, foods, good luck clothing and auspicious decorations to enliven home and human Ch’i. These rituals’ power lie in the repetition and sincerity in which they are performed. They are simple and most of all easy. Choose as many or as few as you like. There are some that are new to the list this year.
Begin with your front entry. Design it for success and good health. What you display here influences the entire house so add a red item. Red in the Feng Shui metaphor means: happiness, courtesy, respect, power and strength. Your front door represents career and reputation. With that in mind visualize the red object activates your Fame Ch’i.
Traditionally Chinese knots were expected to ward off evil spirits and act as good luck charms. At Chinese New Year Chinese knot decorations are seen hanging on walls, doors of homes and as shop decorations to add some festival feel. Their significance is deeply rooted in Buddhist and Taoist tradition. The Pan Chang knot, for example, is inspired by the Eternal Knot, the Buddhist symbol of the ultimate unity of everything, and one of the “Eight Auspicious signs.” Just like the Eternal Knot, Chinese Knots are made with one single thread; are symmetrical in all directions and have no distinctions between head and tail. Though they are often consider folk art, they embody the fundamental principles of Chinese’s aesthetic and philosophy: symmetry, balance, unity, and interconnections. These qualities are auspicious to bring good fortune into your life.
Display a bowl of oranges in your home and money will come easily. The word for orange (Chengzi) sounds like gold (Jin) in the Chinese language.
Place a platter of tangerines on your dining room table for the saying, “Da ju da li” translates as “May you enjoy an abundance of fortune and profits.” In Asian countries it’s auspicious to place two tangerine trees at the entrance of a home or business but adding the tangerines to your dining room table stimulates your income for the table is the secondary source of your income.
Surround yourself with colorful fruit so that you will have a fruitful year. Pomelos are large pear-shaped grapefruits which mean “to have”. Pineapple sounds like wealth but its real strength is fame, promotion and excellent fortune. You can display the fruit at the front entry, the dining room, even the kitchen.
Brighten your home and your luck with narcissus (daffodils). The Chinese affirm that daffodil and Narcissus bulbs when in bloom during the New Year, bring good fortune and luck to a home. They enliven our Ch’i through the sense of smell. This adjustment calms the nervous system. With a clear mind we gain clear access to our decision making center (intuition).
Prepare a reunion dinner on Chinese Lunar New Year’s eve. The image of the circle is used in food dishes like fish balls. The circle is associated with family. This creates unity, support and continuity. This sense of family unity is called Yuan and underlies all festivals. Yuan means roundness and it suggests the attainment of the Five Fold Happiness (good luck, prosperity, happiness, wealth and longevity). Veggies embody the freshness of “evergreen” and store good fortune in their roots. Support your vitality in the Year of the Water Tiger when you include them in your first meal of the new year. Make a feast and have left overs because left overs symbolize that you’ll have money rolling into the next year. Add a little laughter! Shrimp in the Chinese language sounds like Ha, Ha, Ha and translates as merriment and well being. Joyfulness brings a future of limitless possibility. Cook a whole fish and leave some. Serve longevity noodles and eat them in one long strand (try not to break one or it will shorten your life). Add lettuce for it translates as “growing wealth”. Dumplings, jiao zi look like golden ingots. They promise wealth and prosperity. Serve nian giro, a sticky rice pudding cake which is symbolic of helping people “advance toward higher positions and prosperity step by step”. Make the evening uplifting and happy; include music and play games with your children, tell jokes and laugh.
Serve an even number of dishes (like eight) to bestow “double happiness” on the family.
“Avoid cutting the luck of the year” by putting your knives and scissors away before Chinese New Year eve evening, January 21. Schedule a hair trim or mani/pedi before Chinese New Year’s Eve.
Refrain from cursing on New Year’s Day because letting your tongue fly will affect your luck for the entire year. One day of restraint could mean you’ve mastered your impulses and that can bring more opportunities than you might realize. However if you do inadvertently curse say “Tong yen woo chi!” to reverse the affect.
Slumber not before midnight on Chinese Lunar New Year’s eve to ensure good luck will cross your threshold. The sound of sleepiness in Chinese is similar to trouble. Sleepless means no trouble in the coming year.
Keep the Goddess of Poverty away “Fu” means “good fortune” or “happiness” and is represented both as a Chinese ideograph and its homophone, a bat. Placing the image of a bat (Lan Su Garden in Portland, Oregon was constructed with five bats roof tiles) or the image of “Fu” at your front entry clearly sets the intention to invite good fortune into your life.
Bring one new item such as furniture, décor or art into your home and business to stimulate prosperity Ch’i and to compound your sheng Ch’i (beneficial energy). In addition give away one item or more. This leaves both physical and symbolic space for good fortune.
Throw away china, crockery or glassware that are broken, chipped or have hairline cracks, these augur bad luck.
Break a cup or plate (or anything) during New Year say “Fall to the floor and burst into bloom!”
Dress in “up-beat” clothing or buy new clothes for the first day of the New Year.
Carry newly circulated bills: whatever your pocketbook will allow, either nine new one dollar bills or nine new twenty dollar bills.
Purchase a new bill fold for man or a new pocketbook for a woman. In BSTB tradition, black symbolizes water which is equivalent to money. Red is also auspicious to carry. Add a bit of green that stays in the item so your money doesn’t burn up.
Benming Nian – meeting your zodiac year.
One would think that your zodiac year would be a good one. On the contrary, Chinese traditional belief is that your benming nian is going to be full of bad luck. So if it’s your year (Rabbit. Dragon and Rooster are in offending positions to the Year God so they will benefit too), you need to take a few precautions to ensure that your year is not a bad one.
To ward off any dangers that might befall you in your benming nian, it is traditionally believed that it helps to wear the color red. Red is one of the luckiest colors in Chinese traditions, standing for loyalty, success and happiness. You’ll see red all over the place during traditional Chinese festivals and particularly Chinese New Year: red lanterns, red envelopes, red paper hangings. When it comes to decorations, just about everyone is red and ornamented in gold.
If you believe in this, wear red every day, all year long. You can go big: add red accessories to every outfit. Or you can play it simple, wear a cute bracelet made of red interwoven Chinese knots around your wrist tow ward off bad luck.
Make amends with anyone with whom you’ve had a row or falling-out.
The first New Year Day everyone dines on a vegetarian meal to honor one’s ancestors. Then the family dresses in their finest clothes and visits older family members, paying respect, taking along gifts of Mandarin oranges and sweets of all kinds generally offered in a “tray of togetherness”. It is also customary to hand out hong bao (red envelopes with new bills or coins) to family members and friends of any age, who are single and unmarried.
The devoted Dog is the Hare’s secret best friend. In the Year of the Yin Water Rabbit it is auspicious to carry a three dimensional Dog with you. “Chinese folk culture believes that when Rabbit and Dog meet, it will bring forth wealth and nobility.”
– Khadro Crystal Chu
The ardent Dog favors jade, boxwood or bone. Enjoy the inspiration this match brings!
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