Sun, Jan 29, 2006 page2

• Superstitions and New Year traditions persist

  COURTING FORTUNE Though the Lunar New Year holiday may not be as special now that incomes are higher, many still follow the vacation's various do's and don'ts

  • By Jean Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  You've decided to visit friends on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and as soon as you step out your front door, you turn right and head east.

  According to Chinese superstition, you just made a bad move -- and could end up having bad luck for the rest of the year. If you want to visit friends, you should walk south as soon as you leave the house.

  Such traditional superstitions still persist in Taiwan today, although people tend not to follow them so rigidly. Some simply observe them out of habit, while others just want to stay on the safe side.

  Beginning on Lunar New Year's eve, families hustle to finish cleaning before 4pm -- the gathering time for the big family dinner. Three traditional dishes that must appear on the table are fish, leaf mustard cabbage and dumplings or fish balls.

  Wu Chang-yu (吳彰裕), a professor of traditional Chinese religion in the department of religious studies at Fu Jen Catholic University, explained the reasons behind having the three dishes.

  Fish, pronounced yu in Mandarin, is a homonym of the character for "surplus," Wu said. Eating fish during the Lunar New Year's eve dinner will ensure that the family has "enough to spare for the year," he said.

  Wu said that the fish must not be completely eaten, but rather the head and the tail should be left as surplus.

  The leaf mustard cabbage is called "the year-round vegetable" in Chinese, Wu said. In Chinese traditions, the year is a terrible monster that preys on people. Those who aren't eaten get to live another year. Therefore, to celebrate surviving another year, people eat the leaf mustard cabbage, Wu said.

  The third dish, dumplings or fish balls, represent the reunion of family members, Wu added.

  Glutinous rice

  Nian gao, a cake made from glutinous rice, is also eaten throughout the Lunar New Year holiday, Wu said. Sweet cakes are used to appease the gods, while turnip and taro flavored cakes are for one's ancestors, he added.

  In Hoklo, the sticky cake is called guei, a homonym of the character for "elegance" or "an honored position," Wu said.

  Parents often shoo their children away from the stove while they are steaming gueis, because loud children are said to be disturbing the elegant air, Wu said.

  Women who are having their periods are not allowed to approach the cake while it is being cooked either, Wu added.

  "I believe this superstition comes from the fact that these cakes are hard to steam. Sometimes it is hard on the outside while the inside is still inedible," Wu said. "Therefore mothers don't want children disturbing them while they're making the cakes."

  Late night

  On Lunar New Year's Eve, everyone stays up with the lights completely on inside the house to welcome in the New Year. Firecrackers are also set off to scare away monsters.

  Wu said that firecrackers are set off for environmental reasons as well. The potassium nitrate in the firecrackers kills germs and makes the surrounding air dry during the wet winter months, Wu said.

  It is especially important to have dry surroundings because it is taboo to have wet things on New Year's Day, he said. Wetness represents failure and bad luck for the following year. Therefore, laundry cannot be done on the day, nor can baths be taken. That must all be done before New Year's Day, Wu said.

  In addition, there should be no sweeping, out of fear of sweeping good luck and fortune out the door, and no cutting with knives and scissors, for fear of cutting off fortune.

  Leftovers are not thrown out and garbage is not taken out for the same reasons. Food should be cut with thread and not knives.

  Despite all the taboos, though, Pamela Peng (彭筱雯), 23, said that her parents hardly ever followed such New Year traditions.

  "It's true that they don't take the garbage out during New Year's, but it's probably because the garbage collectors are on vacation, not because they're afraid of throwing out luck," Peng said.

  Wu said that when he was younger, traffic police never handed out violations during the first three days of the New Year or cracked down on gambling, out of fear of bringing a person bad luck.

  "Now the police give out tickets anyway if you park your car illegally," Wu said.

  Wu said that sweeping is allowed after the second day of the New Year, but that the dirt must be swept inwards, from the front door to the middle of the house in order to "collect" fortune.

  A mother surnamed Hsu said she felt less of the New Year atmosphere nowadays compared to before, when the streets in front of her house were full of pinball games, ring tosses, and food vendors.

  "I think it's also because we held such high expectations for the Lunar New Year before," Hsu said. "For some, it was the only opportunity to wear new clothes and receive money in red envelopes."

  Now, children wear new clothes all the time and get ample allowances, she said, so New Year isn't as special for them.

  "I still follow some of the old superstitions out of habit, though, since I heard them when I was growing up," Hsu said.

  When you're ready to open up your store or go back to work after the New Year holiday, the seventh day is the best day to do it this year, Wu said.

  It is taboo, however to wait till after the ninth day of the New Year to go back to work, because the ninth day is the god of heaven's birthday.

  "Those who start working after the god's birthday are lazy and disrespectful to the god of heaven," he said.
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