No washing or cutting your hair It is believed that if you wash your hair on New Year's day, you'd also be washing away all your luck. It's somewhat similar to if you cut your hair, you'd be cutting your life shorter!
Wash or cut your hair
Leave your hair as it is on the first day of the New Year. The Chinese character for hair is the same first character in the word for prosper. This means washing or cutting it off is seen as washing your fortune away and dramatically reduces chances of prosperity in the year ahead.
Washing laundry over the holiday can also mean washing good luck down the drain with the wash water. For similar reasons, many cultures believe washing your hair on New Year's is also bad luck, so you may want to skip washing anything on the holiday to be safe.
On the first day of Chinese New Year, you must not wash or cut your hair. In Cantonese, hair is pronounced as faat (髮), which is the same as the word for “getting rich” (發). If you wash your hair, it means that you're washing your own fortune away for the coming 364 days.
Common traditions include attending parties, eating special New Year's foods, making resolutions for the new year and watching fireworks displays.
Don't wash those clothes
This is an odd one. According to folklore, if you wash clothes on New Year's Day, you'll be “washing for the dead” or washing a loved one away -- meaning someone in your household will die in the coming year. Get your laundry washed, dried, folded and put away by New Year's Eve.
“On the first two days of the New Year, we do not wash our hair as it will wash away the good luck. In the first 15 days, we can wash our hair once with pomelo leaves, then washing hair becomes normal again.
One common tradition is cleaning your house thoroughly on or before New Year's Eve. Out with the old, in with the new they say. Most people believe in the idea that cleaning your house before the first day of the New Year ensures that you don't carry in your old, somewhat soiled, life into the New Year.
According to folklore, if you wash clothes on New Years Day, youll be washing for the dead or washing a loved one away -- meaning someone in your household will die in the coming year. Get your laundry washed, dried, folded and put away by New Years Eve.
It's said that you shouldn't eat winged fowl (read: birds like turkey or chicken), bottom feeders (like shrimp or catfish), or any seafood that swims backward or side to side (like lobster or crab).
According to Southern lore, you will have good luck for the entire year if you have the traditional New Year's Day supper. In the South, that means a meal of collard greens, hoppin' John, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and pot likker soup.
* No Showering on Chinese New Year's Eve
It's bad luck to wash your hair and have a shower!
Traditionally houses are cleaned on the 28th day (of the last month) of the (old) year, prior to the Chinese New Year, and red trimmings are placed on doorways and windows to scare away the monster Nian as it is afraid of the colour red.
This is a Latin American custom where single people crawl under a table at midnight for good luck in finding love in the new year, according to San Antonio Express News.
Can you dry clothes on new years day? No you cannot dry clothes on new years day, if you are superstitious. According to superstition you will be drying clothes for the rest of the year. Probably best to wait till the 2nd of January for drying your clothes.
No personal grooming or housekeeping allowed. Do not wash your hair, cut your nails, use the scissors or sweep the floor on the first day of Chinese New Year.
According to the ancient myth, washing your clothing on these days could lead to 'washing a loved one away' and could also bring about bad fortune, as doing laundry or the dishes around the New Year will wash away all your good luck.
Greens, Black-Eyed Peas, Cornbread, and Ham | Photo by Meredith. Even folks who aren't from the Southern United States go all in on eating black-eyed peas and leafy greens for good luck on New Year's Day. Add a slice of cornbread, and you've got "peas for pennies, greens for dollars, and cornbread for gold."
In those days, the people were wearing saffron coloured clothes. Saffron colour is meant for Jupiter. If we wear saffron, it protects us from negative rays and vibrations. Since Thursday is meant for Jupiter, we are advised to avoid washing clothes on Thursdays that may wipe our good fortunes away.
Common traditions throughout the United States include singing “Auld Lang Syne” to greet the New Year, and eating black-eyed peas for good luck. Around the world, cultures welcome the change of the calendar with unique New Year's traditions of their own.