New Year is a festival of joy, during which every household is filled with a festive atmosphere. Chinese traditional culture is profound and extensive, with many customs and beliefs. What taboos are there on the first day of the first lunar month, and what should we pay special attention to? Let's take a look with the editor!

Introduction to the Spring Festival

The Spring Festival is also called the Lunar New Year, commonly known as "the New Year" or "the Spring Festival." It symbolizes unity and prosperity, and it is a festival that寄托s new hopes for the future. According to records, the Chinese people have been celebrating the Spring Festival for more than 4,000 years. It originated with Yu Shun. One day over 2,000 years ago, Shun ascended the throne and led his subordinates to worship heaven and earth. From then on, people regarded this day as the beginning of the year, which is the first day of the first lunar month. It is said that this is the origin of the lunar new year, later called the Spring Festival. In the past, the Spring Festival was also called "Yuan Dan". The month in which the Spring Festival falls is called "Yuan Yue". The first day of the first lunar month was historically called "Yuan Ri", "Yuan Chen", "Yuan Zheng", "Yuan Suo", "Yuan Dan", "Sui Dan", "Sui Shou", "Sui Chao", "Xin Zheng", "Shou Zuo", "San Yuan" or "Nian", "Guo Nian". Since the first year of Taichu under Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the first day of the first lunar month has been regarded as the "beginning of the year" (i.e., "year"), and the date of the New Year festival was fixed and has continued to this day. The New Year festival was historically called "Yuan Dan". After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the Gregorian calendar (solar calendar) began to be used, so the January 1st of the Gregorian calendar was called "Yuan Dan", and the first day of the first lunar month was called "Spring Festival".

Related Taboos

According to legend, the first day of the first lunar month is the birthday of the broom. On this day, one must not use the broom, otherwise it will sweep away the luck and bring misfortune, and invite the "Broom Star" to bring bad luck. If it is necessary to sweep the floor, one must sweep from outside to inside. On this day, one must not pour water or throw garbage outside, as it may cause financial loss. Today, many places still preserve this custom: clean thoroughly on New Year's Eve, do not sweep or throw garbage on the first day of the first lunar month, and prepare a large bucket to collect wastewater, which is not poured out on the same day.