Kung Hei Fat Choi

The Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays.   It is celebrated not just in China but in other countries with a significant population of Chinese, such as the Philippines.  Here are some things you can do to attract good fortune in the coming year of the Water Snake:

Clean your home in time for the new year to sweep away the bad luck and make room for the entry of good luck.  Make sure you do not clean during the first days of the new year lest you sweep away the good luck that you had just received.

Decorate your home.  Red is the color of good luck.  Get mandarins with their leaves still intact and place them in a bowl.  These are fruits of happiness.  Make sure to have an even number of fruits because uneven numbers bring bad luck.

Have a traditional dinner which includes dumplings, glutinous rice, radish and red chillies.  Dumplings symbolize gold ingots, glutinous rice helps good fortune to stick, radishes symbolize longevity and red chilies, good luck.