What not to do at Lunar New Year

Around the house

• Do not sweep, mop or take out the rubbish on the first day. The new year's luck has just arrived, and sweeping is thought to sweep it straight out again. The house is cleaned before the eve, and brooms are put away until the fifth day. If something must be swept, sweep inwards, towards the centre of the room.
• Do not wash your hair on the first day. The word for hair sounds like the word for wealth in the prosperity greeting, so washing it is washing money away. Washing clothes on the first two days is avoided in some families for the same reason.
• Keep the scissors and knives in the drawer. Sharp tools are thought to cut through good fortune, which is why the food for the first day is prepared the night before. It also means no haircuts in the first days; get one before the year turns.
• Do not break anything. A broken bowl or cup is a sign of a broken year. If it happens, wrap the pieces in red paper and say suì suì píng'ān, "peace year after year", which puns on the word for shattered and cancels the omen.

Words and moods

• No arguing, scolding or crying. A row on the first day is a row that lasts all year. Children are let off lightly, which is one reason they look forward to it.
• No unlucky words. Words about loss, endings, sickness and the number four are kept out of conversation, and some families avoid "finished" or "empty" even about a plate. Say "full" instead.
• Do not wake anyone by name on the first morning. A folk belief says they will be hurried and nagged for the whole year. Let them sleep, or knock.
• Do not lend or borrow money, and do not ask anyone to repay a debt in the first days. Money leaving the house on the first day is money leaving all year; a debt collected now means a year of chasing. Debts are settled before the eve.

Clothes and colours

• Avoid black or white from head to toe. Both are mourning colours in Chinese tradition. Red is lucky, gold is prosperous, and bright colours in general are welcome. A red scarf or socks is enough.
• Wear something new, ideally bought for the occasion. Old clothes on the first day suggest an old year repeating itself.
• If 2027 is your own sign year, wear red all year. People born in Goat years are traditionally advised to carry a little red, often as underwear or a bracelet, through their sign year.

Gifts never to give

Gift taboos are the ones most likely to trip up a well-meaning guest, because they hold all year round, not only at new year.

• Clocks. "Giving a clock" sounds like a phrase connected with funerals in Chinese. Watches are a grey area; clocks are a firm no.
• Pears. The word sounds like "separation". Apples, oranges and tangerines are all fine.
• Shoes. In Cantonese the word sounds like a sigh, and the gift suggests the person will walk away from you.
• Umbrellas. The word sounds like "scatter" or "break up".
• Sharp objects, which cut the relationship, and anything in a set of four.
• White or yellow chrysanthemums, and white flowers generally, which belong at funerals.
• Anything wrapped in white or black. Red, gold and bright colours only.

Safe gifts: tangerines or oranges in even numbers, good tea, sweets or biscuits in a red tin, a bottle of something, or a red envelope for the children.

Visiting

• Do not visit on the third day unless invited. Folk tradition marks it as a day for quarrels, and many families use it to rest.
• In Vietnam, do not drop in first thing on the first morning uninvited. The first visitor of the year is believed to set the household's luck, so families choose that person deliberately. Arrive later in the day, or wait to be asked.
• Families in mourning traditionally sit the celebrations out and do not pay or receive new year visits that year. If you know a family has had a loss, a quiet message is kinder than a visit.
• Do not arrive empty-handed, and do not leave the oranges you were given behind: your host will usually hand you a pair back as you go, and you take them.

If you slip up

You will, and so does everyone. The tradition has its own remedies: a lucky phrase for a broken cup, a quick "full" after an empty plate, a laugh for a forgotten envelope. These customs are about starting the year with care and attention, not about passing a test. By the fifth day the rules relax, by the fifteenth they are gone, and the Year of the Fire Goat is yours to make.