For many people who celebrate the occasion, Chinese New Year is a very exciting time. It’s a chance to reconnect with traditional values, and embrace a new year of luck and prosperity.
One well-known and celebrated custom of Chinese New Year is a comprehensive clean out of the home, specifically removing all the previous year’s bad luck and preparing for the year ahead. The clean usually begins three days before the start of celebrations. In short, it can involve anything on your home’s ‘To-do’ list, such as large-scale painting and decorating, to simply dusting, doing the dishes and tidying furniture. If you’re celebrating Chinese New Year – or preparing for a luck-filled year ahead – why not use this occasion to bring your whole home back to life with a new or revitalised look? Recline Furniture has a wide range of furniture and accessories that suit a makeover like this perfectly.
Traditional Chinese New Year decorations use calligraphy, poetry, plants and food to express ‘resolutions’ of happiness and good luck, so ensuring you have a clean and well decorated home will help attract good fortune for the year ahead.
What do the symbols of Chinese New Year mean?
- Red lanterns will warn off bad luck
- Door couplets offer best wishes for the coming year
- Paper cuttings (i.e. window decorations and paper lanterns) welcome good luck and happiness
- New Year paintings are a traditional symbol of New Year’s greetings
- Upside-down ‘Fu’ characters connote a household’s luck ‘poured out’, ready to be filled for the new year
- Kumquat trees provide a wish for wealth and good luck
- Blooming flowers, particularly plum blossom and bamboo, signify wishes for a prosperous New Year
Have a a clean home, clear mind and delicious meal to welcome in the New Year. All as a result of your preparation and planning in the lead up to New Year’s eve. No matter what your cultural background this is something many of us have in common and enjoy during times of celebration. Now you’re ready to receive the good wishes of the universe for 2018, the year of the dog.
Start your New Year the right way with a trip to Recline Furniture, find out more at reclinefurniture.com.au