Lunar New Year falls on February 10th 2024.

One of the most important days in the Lunar Calendar, it is a day when tradition is best observed as faithfully as possible to ensure that abundance and prosperity follow you all through the year.

Lunar New Year is so important that preparations begin as early as a month before the new moon appears. There will be new clothes to buy, new furniture to bring in, food to prepare, home repairs to do, flowers to order and altars to clean – everything just to make sure that the house gets a thorough spring cleaning and is ready to welcome in all the best energies by the time the New Year arrives.

It is then celebrated over all 15 days of the first full moon, with special rituals associated with specific days.

THINGS TO GET DONE BEFORE NEW YEAR

1. Make repairs

Start by checking your home for defects and ensuring that things are working well. Repair leaking toilets, broken faucets, broken roof tiles, leaking ceilings and so on, as leaking water implies loss of wealth, as well as loss of health. Cracked walls and broken doorways can cause serious problems when carried into the New Year. Anything affecting the kitchen or dining room can also have a nasty impact on your rice bowl. Other critical areas to repair include the main door area and your bedroom.

If you can, you should give your home a fresh coat of paint every 4 – 5 years in order to start the year with a clean slate and make way for new opportunities for improvement. Focus on decluttering your home of last year’s “rubbish”; get rid of old newspapers, magazines, books, plastic bags, broken containers and clothes you want to throw out. Allowing clutter to build up will only aggravate or worsen any problems that you face.

Go through your cutlery and plates, cups, bowls and serving dishes, and dispose of the ones that are chipped or cracked. Damaged utensils are a sign of broken luck and they bring the home Bad Feng Shui. This affects the prosperity of the family.

Check your beds for damage. Sleeping on damaged or broken beds will bring obstacles and blockages to everything you do. Success will be afflicted when the bed frame is damaged. This also creates a rift in your marriage.

Inspect cupboards and drawers for mismatched socks, torn or thread-worn undergarments, shirts, pants and damaged shoes. Dispose of clothes you have not worn in more than a year. Clearing the cupboard symbolizes removing negative energies and creates space for NEW things to come to you.

2. Restock your kitchen

It is most auspicious to enter the New Year with a completely restocked kitchen. Remove and dispose of any expired food stuff. Clean out your rice urn, wash and dry it, then place a red packet with 3 dynasty coins tied with red thread at the base, and fill it to the brim with new rice. Keep your rice urn at least three quarters full throughout the 15 days of Lunar New Year. Next, stock up the pantry and refrigerator for Lunar New Year, as it is important that there is food in the home to last the 15 days.

3. Bring in growth energy

2024 is a year when Lunar New Year occurs after Lap Chun. To introduce excellent growth chi into the home, you should decorate it with fruiting lime trees and flowering plants before January 25th. This will invite in fresh new opportunities for wealth and career progress to all at home.

4. Put up auspicious symbols of good fortune

Fill the home with auspicious symbols of good fortune to add more luck. This can be done with throw pillows and carpets. Auspicious sonnets, especially with the Chinese word “Fuk”, meaning good fortune, are commonly strung up at the entrance of homes, along with some red lanterns as well.

5. Update the feng shui of your home

The feng shui of your home should be updated between December 21st 2023 (Winter Solstice) and February 4th 2024, which is the start of the solar year. Winter Solstice marks the changing of the Tai Sui. It is also when the Three Killings of 2024 begins to take effect. The annual Flying Stars take effect on February 4th, which is Lap Chun.

If you are planning to reuse your feng shui cures, you need to wipe them clean with a damp cloth soaked in cleansing water. BUT IT IS ALWAYS BEST TO USE NEW CURES. The enhancers can be reused twice, but do realize that remedies work by absorbing bad energies from the past year, which need cleansing before reuse. Once you have updated the feng shui of your home, you should perform the space cleansing ritual.

6. How to prepare cleansing water

You need flower petals from 5 kinds of flowers (best if you can get flowers representing the 5 elements – Blue for Water, Yellow for Earth, Green for Wood, Red for Fire and White for Metal) and leaves from the Kaffir lime (you can use lime or lemon leaves if you cannot get Kaffir leaves). Soak these in a bowl of water with 1 tablespoon of sea salt and place them in the sun for 10 minutes before using. Rinse your cleaning cloth in the mixture, squeeze dry then wipe all your remedies, enhancers, and auspicious good luck charms, as well as all symbols of good fortune in your home. You can also use this water to clean your home altar, statues and figurines.

7. How to perform a space cleansing ritual

Open all your windows and doors, and switch on all the lights. It is best to do this in the daytime. Light some Period 9 Incense mixed with 1 tablespoon of Purifying Incense Powder in an incense burner. Then, with the burning incense, walk around each room 7 times in a clockwise direction while chanting the corresponding mantras and visualizing the negative energy coming off your walls. You can also ring the 7 Metals Ringing Bell or stroke Singing Bowls for enhanced effect.

Leave the doors and windows open for at least one hour after the ritual to allow bad energies to exit and good energies to permeate the home as the incense dissipates.

By WOFS