Chinese New Year: Goodbye Monkey, Hello Rooster

Here’s to a prosperous Year of the Rooster

■ Welcoming the New Year

Stay up as late as possible tonight. New Year’s Eve symbolizes the link between two years, and prolonging the connection is believed to extend life.

■ Don’t eat chicken, don’t wear black

Don’t eat chicken tonight or tomorrow so as not to offend the rooster. Put away your replica All Black jersey and wear something red or colorful. Black and white clothes are associated with mourning.

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■ Don’t wash your hair or sweep the floor

Hair has the same pronunciation as the word for prosperity in Chinese, and washing hair is seen as washing away good fortune. It is believed that if you use a broom on the day, then you’d be sweeping your luck away. Beistle 57856 Authenti... Buy New $4.73 (as of 04:45 UTC - Details)

■ Put away sharp objects

Use of knives or scissors is a no-no because it is seen as “cutting away wealth”.

■ Rice jar

Fill your rice jar or bread bin, because an empty food storage receptacle is seen as a bad omen.

■ Debt

Pay all debts before the stroke of midnight tonight, it is believed that if you carry your debt into the Chinese New Year you will face a life of owing money to others.

Chinese New Year – the Year of the Rooster – starts tomorrow, but celebrations begins tonight and will continue right until the Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the new year.

Thousands of Chinese in New Zealand will be joining more than a billion around the world tonight in welcoming the new year with reunion dinners, parties, and prayers.

But for one Auckland family, the festival will also a time when the family “dances” together.

Chinese mother Tracy Tam, 39, her husband Andy Chan, 40, and children Melody, 14 and Maco Leung, 11, are members of the Epacs Lion and Dragon Dance troupe.

Performed in a Chinese lion costume and accompanied by beating drums, gongs, and cymbals, the dance is believed to bring luck and good fortune.

“No Chinese New Year celebration is complete without lion dance, and for our family, it has become not just part of our celebrations, but part of our lives,” Tam said.

With a rapidly growing Chinese population, Chinese New Year is growing in popularity here. So too is the demand for lion dance performances.

The Epacs troupe will be involved in over 60 performances – from restaurants, hotels, suburban Chinese New Year events to the Auckland Lantern Festival.

As a “disciple” and right-hand woman to lion dance master and troupe founder Peter Low, Tam’s role is to ensure each performance goes on without a hitch. China: The Cookbook Fong Chan, Diora Best Price: $11.02 Buy New $27.99 (as of 04:30 UTC - Details)

“It is getting more and more complicated each year, and on some days we have to juggle with getting several groups out when performances clash,” said Tam, who has been practicing the art for more than 10 years.

With performers as young as 6, the Epacs troupe is believed to have some of the youngest lion and dragon dancers in the world.

“This adds to the complication because it means we need to involve a lot of the parents with the planning too,” Tam said.

She first signed up for lion dancing as a way of getting her children into the art.

“Lion dance teaches discipline, and that is a big reason why I wanted my children involved at first,” Tam said.

“But now I am proud to be a lion dancer, and my family too because it is a great way for us to share our Chinese culture with all of New Zealand.”

Last week, thousands celebrated in Auckland as Prime Minister Bill English officially launched Chinese New Year celebrations at the ASB Showgrounds.

The Year of the Rooster officially starts tomorrow.

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