Superstitions surround Chinese New Year also known as Spring Festival which begins on February 17 (Image: Catherine Falls Commercial via Getty Images)
Chinese New Year, also called the Lunar New Year, begins with the second new moon after December’s winter solstice, which generally falls between late January and late February each year. The timing varies depending on the clockless pattern of a given moon cycle – and in 2026 the year of the Fire Horse begins on February 17.
There are many superstitions surrounding Chinese New Year, including things you “shouldn’t do” on the day it begins for fear of “bringing misfortune”. This includes wearing certain colours and eating specific things, with even a humble bowl of morning porridge considered “unlucky”. This fresh Lunar New Year leads into a 15-day-long Spring Festival, seeing the time from new moon through to the full moon celebrated, but this period also comes with taboos linked to good or bad luck.
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The year of the Fire Horse is said to be a powerful one, so anyone who’s even slightly superstitious will want to ensure they start this moon-linked celebration in the “luckiest” way possible.
Your Chinese star sign goes with the year, so anyone born on February 17 (through to the next Chinese New Year in 2027) will be a Fire Horse. There are many other animals a person can be born under including rabbit, pig or dog.
Each yearly lunar cycle also includes an element: fire, earth, metal, wood or water. These are also linked numerologically to the last digits of a year – and as the Fire Horse year begins, “wearing red” is considered a “lucky” colour.
To avoid bad luck and misfortune though, there are six things to avoid doing on the first day of the Lunar New Year, according to travel website, China Highlights.
Red is considered a lucky colour to wear or display when Chinese New Year begins (Image: Getty)
Six things to avoid on Chinese New Year’s day:
1 Don’t sweep or take out rubbish
“The act of sweeping on this day is associated with sweeping wealth away”, China Highlights warned online.
While putting your rubbish out on Chinese New Year’s day “symbolizes dumping out the good luck or good fortune from the house”.
2 Avoid “unlucky” words
China Highlights explained this on their website: “Nobody wants to hear words with negative meanings during the Lunar New Year period.
“Avoid saying words related to death, sickness, poverty, ghosts. People replace them with euphemisms if they need to talk about such topics, for example saying ‘somebody is gone’ instead of ‘somebody died’.”
Chinese traditions and superstitions say you should not “eat porridge and meat for breakfast” on the first day of the lunar year.
The connection of humble porridge oats to “poverty” means eating a bowl for breakfast on the Chinese New Year’s first day may be a “bad omen” and it manifests for a “poor year ahead”
4 Avoid washing or cutting hair
The China Highlights website explained: “Hair must not be washed on Chinese New Year’s Day, it is seen as not a good thing to ‘wash one’s fortune away’ at the beginning of the New Year.
“Avoid cutting hair on this day, as it is believed that it might bring misfortune to uncles.”
People “do not wash clothes on the first and second day of the new year”, because these two days are “celebrated as the birthday of the water god”.
Washing your clothes on these two days is considered “disrespect to the god of water” in Chinese superstitions along with a “pouring away of wealth” belief.
6 Do not wear black or white clothing
As previously mentioned, “red is a lucky colour” during Chinese New Year, however there are other shades that should be avoided.
“Do not wear white or black clothes as these two colours are associated with mourning”, China Highlights explained online.
