Hoping For A 'Huat' 2025? Here Are 10 Chinese New Year Taboos You Need To Avoid

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Chinese New Year denotes a fresh start and new beginnings. Thus, it is believed that what you do on such auspicious days will affect your luck in the coming year.

These 10 taboos embody thousands-year-old, trickled-down beliefs, wishes, and worries of the Chinese people — consider them ancestral guides that will teach you what you should and shouldn't do as you're welcoming the Year of the Snake.

Allow me to clear up the confusion, this only applies to married Chinese women.

According to traditional beliefs, if a woman gets married and subsequently lives apart from her parents, she cannot visit them on the first day of the New Year, as daughters are considered outsiders after they're "given away" to their husbands.

If a woman chooses not to heed this, it is believed that their parents will be stricken by poverty.

Specifically, never break ceramic or glassware such as bowls, plates, glasses, vases, or mirrors. This is because broken objects symbolise incompleteness and bad luck; breaking them will lead to misfortunes such as money loss, and a split family in the future.

Quick fix: Got butter fingers? No worries. Simply collect and wrap the fragments in red paper or cloth, and throw it out on the fifth day.

Another way to dodge misfortune is to say, "sui sui ping an", which means "safe and sound all year round".

This is because the Chinese pronunciation for "year" and "broken" are the same, so the homophones are used to dispel bad luck. Think of it as saying "touch wood" when you don't want to jinx something. 

Maybe you didn't have the best start this 2025, or maybe you just watched a real tear-jerker of a movie; regardless, it's best to save the crying till after the New Year. 

This is because it's believed that those who cry during the spring festival will be crying all throughout the year!

(Although most of us have nothing to fear because we're crying throughout the year regardless.)

Considering how messy some houses can get after Chinese New Year festivities, you might be hard pressed to hear that sweeping dirt and dust out of the house coincides with sweeping out and dumping good fortune.

While the thought of not cleaning up after festivities sounds horrifying, fear not, there is a loophole!

Quick Fix: Don't sweep dirt or trash out through the front door. Instead, start from the outer edges of the room and sweep inwards. Then, collect the garbage and throw it out after the fifth day.

Have you ever heard the saying, "words have power"?

On Chinese New Year, this is especially true, so be careful what you say. Words that carry negative connotations are thought to bring you and your family members misfortune all year long!

If you didn't already know that you should avoid eating porridge on Chinese New Year, now you know!

This is because porridge was once a meal associated with the poor because of how cheap it is to make. Thus, eating it reflects a poverty-stricken life, and it's considered bad luck to start the year "poor".

According to superstition, washing or cutting your hair is equivalent to washing away and cutting off prosperity and wealth.

Some fervent believers take it to the extreme and avoid showering altogether. It's your call... 

Don't take medicine or even see a doctor until the Lantern Festival, which marks the final day of New Year celebrations. 

Otherwise (you guessed it), this will reflect on the rest on the year through repeated illnesses.

Everyone knows not to wear black on Chinese New Year, as the colour is typically worn at funerals and is thus associated with death. Even if a saucy black skirt is your go-to for hiding your food belly after a filling Chinese New Year meal, try to avoid the colour, just for a little while.

However, some may not know that you should also avoid the colour white, which Chinese funeral-goers customarily opt for.

Even if you're a little low on funds, try not to lend or borrow money on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Lending money is a bad omen as it denotes economic loss, and might inadvertently attract more borrowers to come knocking on your doorstep for the rest of the year.

Love thy neighbour and don't ask for money either! For all you know, you might accidentally cause your best friend a year of misfortune and adversity by asking for a quick buck at the store.