Chinese Customs and Holidays

Customs

At all stages throughout life, Chinese ethnic groups adhere to strong cultural customary beliefs and traditions, the following of which they feel severely alters the balance of good, evil and fortune throughout their lives.

Indeed, every significant milestone, such as childbirth, marriage and death in a Chinese persons life has a customary significance attached to it, as well as more day-to-day interactions, such as the preparation of food, homemaking, the hosting of guests and even recreational activities.

In order to make yourself, the discerning tourist, aware of any potentially offensive or indeed ill-fortune gestures, as well as to educate, we have listed below and explained some of the more popularly know customs; they make for interesting reading!

•  Brooms
Many Chinese tribes place great emphasis on the use and indeed misuse of the humble broom.

It is widely accepted that the use of brooms should only be to clean houses and shops, business premises etc…, and not used in games or playing, as they hold spirits within. Furthermore, religious artefacts such as household Gods (Statues) and altars should not cleaned with brooms, as it is disrespectful – rather they should be cleaned with a cloth or special ceremonial brush. Indeed, the significance of the broom and the fortune it wields extends to specific days; during the Spring Festival, the use of brooms for three days from New Year's Day is prohibited, as it is believed that all good luck will be swept away for the incoming New Year.

Beating a person with a broom will bring bad luck upon the beaten person for years, unless the curse is lifted by rubbing the part of the body struck by the broom several times. Other broom related beliefs are that touching the head with a broom is bad luck, whilst in gambling, threatening a broom will bring fortune. A common temple ritual used to lift bad luck from a person is the sweeping of the entire body with a broom, then the beating of the broom on the ground, to disperse and eliminate any bad luck.

•  Numbers
Numbers hold massive importance in Chinese culture, as it is believe that they can affect a persons fate, right through life, from naming a child at birth, to the advent of death.

The number eight is considered to be the luckiest, as the Chinese word for eight sounds very much like “lucky”, whilst conversely, the number four is consider extremely unlucky, as it sounds like the Chinese for “death” (the number seven also is believed to signify death).

Therefore, throughout life, Chinese people will go out of their way to be associated in particular with the number eight as it is believed to bring fortune and luck. Home buyers will pay extra to live at a house with the number eight in it's address, and likewise, car owners will spend over the odds to land a number plate with the number eight in it if their original plate is absent of the digit.

Finally, the number one holds significance, as it symbolises loneliness.

•  Moustaches and beards

Although in many films and illustrations, Chinese men are pictured as being bearded and moustached in order to covey wisdom, it is in fact considered bad luck in Chinese custom, and is believed to bring misfortune to the wearer and their immediate family. Also, being unshaven is considered a working class trait and therefore lowers the wearer's status.

•  Finger and toe nails

Fingers and toenails cannot be clipped at night, as it is believed that doing so will bring a visit from the dead, ghosts or evil spirits. Any clippings should be gathered and discarded of in a place unknown to others, as if they were recovered, they could be used to cast a spell on the person that grew them.

•  The fluid from a dog's eye

It is strongly believed in Chinese superstition that Dogs have the ability to see ghosts and phantoms, and should they howl continuously whilst gazing at you, then you will die imminently.

As a result, it is common practice for a spiritual medium to smear the fluid from a dog's eye onto their own, in order to see spirits in the supernatural world for the purpose of seances and exorcisms. However, it is said that this is an extremely dangerous thing to attempt, as the shock of seeing the afterlife can cause the wearer of the fluid to die of shock.

Holidays

The following is a list of traditional holidays, many of which are native to China and Chinese culture:

• January 1: New Year's Day
• Various Days (End of January, Early February) -
• Chinese New Year or Spring Festival (Lasts a week) and Chinese New Year
• March 8: International Women's Day
• Early April: Ching Ming
• May 1: Labour Day (extended to a week)
• May 4: Youth Day
• June 1: Children's Day
• July 1: Communist Party Founding Day
• August 1: Army Day
• October 1: National Day (extended to a week)
• Late October: Mid-Autumn Festival

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