The Chinese have some traditions that if followed will hopefully increase your good fortune in the Chinese New Year.
*Clean Your House – Get into every corner to ensure that you have rid your home of old ghosts and last year’s bad luck. You want to make room for your good luck.
*Spend Time With People Who Matter To You – Make time to be with those close to you, the people in your life who nourish you, make you laugh and appreciate you. It’s a lovely way to begin the year.
*Let Go – Just like you clean your house, clean your mind of old grudges. Carrying hurt into the new year benefits no one and prevents other things from happening.
*Try Eating “Lucky” Foods – Some foods are believed to bring good luck into the year ahead if you eat them at this time.
1. Perhaps the luckiest of all foods to consume at the new year is a whole fish. In Chinese, the word for fish sounds like the word for abundance. How you eat the fish is very important; for a good beginning, middle and end of the year be sure to include the head and tail.
2. An easier food that doesn’t have a head or tail to consume is an orange. Eating and displaying oranges is said to bring good luck and money.
3. My favorite, and I’m willing to celebrate the new year any day with a sweet treat. Consuming and serving desserts brings a sweetness into your life for the new year.
As you can see from these traditions, they emphasize letting go of last year’s sorrow, remembering the importance of people who matter, and moving forward into whatever the universe has in store for us.
Jennifer Dubowsky, LAc, is a licensed acupuncturist with a practice in downtown Chicago, Illinois, since 2002. Dubowsky earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from University of Illinois in Chicago and her Master of Science degree in Oriental Medicine from Southwest Acupuncture College in Boulder, Colorado. During her studies, she completed an internship at the Sino-Japanese Friendship Hospital in Beijing, China. Dubowsky has researched and written articles on Chinese medicine and has given talks on the topic. She maintains a popular blog about health and Chinese medicine at Acupuncture Blog Chicago. Adventures in Chinese Medicine is her first book. You can find her at www.tcm007.com.
