Chúc mừng năm mới! 新年快樂! Gung hay fat choi! Happy Lunar New Year! I had Vietnamese catfish for dinner.

Happy year of the dragon! So exciting because Yours Truly is a dragon as well! I have a very superstitious family so my new year was filled with a bunch of interesting practices. So of course I made visits to the temple and prayed for the new year as well called family to wish the health, happiness, ya de da but my more interesting celebrated customs include much more than the typical temple visit.

My family has a tradition of wearing new clothes from head to toe. I even use brand new toothbrushes, new towels, new shoes, new blankets and pillow cases. It’s also important not to use scissors on the official first day of the New Year. I think it has something to do with cutting up your luck so the day before, I have to cut off all the tags in advance. My family also uses grapefruit/pomelo leaves to shower in order to wash away all the bad luck from the previous year and start anew. My mom and I also go as far as to look up what the lucky direction for the hour is so that the first step we take on the new year is in the right direction. And of course no cursing or mentioning unlucky words like death.

Do you have any fun or particular traditions for the Lunar New Year?