Are you the superstitious type? I am not. Well, I think I kind of am but I don't take it to the extreme. I know some people do and every ritual must be performed to the T to gain luck, prosperity and..and..oh, I don't know, just to have a smooth sailing year I suppose.
Back in the day before I got married, Dad will ask us to cut our nails at night on the eve of Chinese New Year. We will sit with him, complete with the clipper and newspaper (for the clippings). Not your conventional bonding moment between father and daughter, but if clipping our nails does it for Dad, it will do for us! I never really asks why but I guess it has something to do with good luck I guess.
Oh, and CNY eve is truly the busiest time. No one sleeps until past 12 midnight. After dinner, Mom will hurriedly clean the table, put everything away and prepare for midnight prayers. To welcome the God of Prosperity I was told. For that, a table will be laid out in front with prayer stuff, all windows and doors open (welcome mozzies!) and Dad will be busy sweeping and mopping the floor. Perhaps this is not a supersittion but it's a ritual thingy that my parents go through every year on the eve.
Ah yes...the one common belief of both my in laws and parents is that we're not allowed to wear anything black on CNY. Apart from our black hair, nothing else can be black. Even our undies have to be coloured something other than black. We can be wearing blue, green or purple but never black. The colour black is often associated with bad, or bad luck or just generally very black, and considered highly inappropriate for CNY which is a time to celebrate goodness, prosperity, good luck, positivity, etc...
Anyway, these are some of the peculiar rituals or beliefs my family indulges in. How about yours? Do you have any peculiar CNY superstitions or rituals that you go through?
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