Celebrate the season in auspicious red.
Bring good fortune into your life and celebrate the Lunar New Year by wearing the lucky colour
Gung hay fat choi. As the spring festival or Lunar New Year enters its second day, Chinese people all over the world are donning new and auspicious clothes to celebrate new beginnings with family and friends.
Like Christmas in the West, the spring festival is a major family tradition and everybody strives to return home to celebrate with their families. It is a huge driver of the Chinese economy because everyone buys new clothes to signify the annual renewal. To wear old clothes would be to invite bad fortune.
Similarly, celebrants add red to their outfits because red is the colour of luck. It is the colour of the rising sun, which chases away all the nefarious spirits of the night, says Jan Walls, a Chinese culture scholar and professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University. The scrolls that adorn both sides of everyone’s doorways are always red, as are the lanterns, wood block prints and envelopes with gift money enclosed.
Red is the dominant colour of the new year because it creates an auspicious atmosphere, he says, adding that adorning your home and body with red is a form of self- fulfilling prophecy. It creates a mindset that helps make good things happen.
“Red is not the only colour they would wear as they string together the gates, but probably something would be red,” says Walls, adding that “stringing the gates” means to step out and greet your neighbours, which is commonly done after the New Year meals.
Well, red just happens to be one of our favourite colours, too, so we have compiled some great items to spark some directed shopping sprees and create some good fortune. Whether it is a new coat, a necklace, a bag or some shoes, there is something for everyone here, even if your family hails from Scotland, Sweden or South America and you won’t be going home for dumplings.
May the new year bring all of you prosperity and good luck and may all your wishes come true.