Many families have traditions they have carried on through generations. One common tradition is cleaning your house thoroughly on or before New Year’s Eve. Out with the old, in with the new they say. Most people believe in the idea that cleaning your house before the first day of the New Year ensures that you don’t carry in your old, somewhat soiled, life into the New Year. For most of us, this kind of therapeutic type of cleansing has to take place before New Year’s Eve depending on how many people you’re cleaning up after and however big your house is. Also people like to clean on New Year’s Eve because of the many superstitions that revolve on what you can and cannot do on New Year’s Day. It is believed after all the cleaning is completed, all brooms, brushes, dust pans, and all other cleaning equipment should be put away in order to avoid washing or sweeping your luck away.
Some of these traditions vary depending on where your family is from. Some believe that nothing, not even trash, leaves the house or you will be metaphorically losing things during the upcoming year. These people mean business. They don’t even take out the trash or food, and if their trash needs emptying, they do it before midnight or on January 2nd. This also means not washing clothes as well. However for the Chinese New Year, they believe that all dirt and rubbish should be taken out of the back door because anything taken or swept out of the front door is like sweeping away good fortune and luck for your family.
Another tradition is to not have any bare cupboards. It is customary to fill them up before New Year’s Day. If you don’t, it’s a sign that your New Year might continue this way. You should use this time to check expiration dates on everything you have in those cupboards and to throw away any old canned foods you might find. You should also throw away any of those magazines you’ve been hoarding as well as anything else you don’t use on a regular basis that has no purpose but to take up space. By clearing out the old, useless or expired things, it’s symbolic to removing the negativity from your life. Try not to break anything on New Year’s Day as the superstition of broken glass or mirrors is amplified on this day. It’s probably a good idea to just consider paper plates and products for this day in order to avoid any mishaps!
