My family celebrated Chinese New Year on Saturday evening with a dinner at my parents’ local Chinese restaurant. It’s the non-negotiable event in our family calendar every year. My father holds court and shouts the dinner. It’s his big night.
During the celebration, older generations (grandparents and parents) hand out red envelopes known as lucky money to younger generations. The red envelopes signify luck and they are stuffed with money. Suffice to say, my sons have been more than accommodating in keeping this tradition alive in our family.
Chinese people are known to be superstitious so the turning of the lunar new year carries with it a few considerations. We always order noodles for luck and everyone has to eat them. The colour red is supposed to be lucky so my parents always dress to optimse their chances. This year the shade of mum’s red dress perfectly matched dad’s red shirt. It’s the one night of the year where I put on the most colorful outfit in my wardrobe. As my wardrobe palette generally ranges in colour from beige to black, honoring the neutrals in the colour wheel is a tough ask. But superstition is a funny thing and I’d rather be on the positive side of it.
It is considered bad luck to clean on New Year’s Day. Cleaning your home will sweep away good fortune for the year ahead. Cleaning your hair is equivalent to washing away good luck. I’m always happy to embrace the cleaning superstition. Better to be safe.
Chinese new year celebrations involve dragon dancers and fireworks. The fireworks are let off to scare away evil spirits. The dragon dance signifies the end of the previous year and welcomes in good fortune. I found that idea comforting as a child – once I got over my fear of the dragon. If only I could arrange a dragon dance around my finances!
2013 is year of the water snake. According to ancient Chinese custom if there is a snake in the house no one will starve. But the water element is associated with fear so the Chinese are predicting a stormy year ahead. If you skip back in history many snake years have been associated with upheaval: the 1929 Stock Market Crash of The Great Depression, Pearl Harbour in 1941, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and September 11, 2001.
According to my dad, snake people do well in a snake year. That can be the only real benefit to turning a multiple of 12 this year. In my case that will be 48. I will embrace the potential storm and look for the hidden opportunities that can characterise a difficult year. The word, according to my superstitious Chinese ancestors, is that slow and steady will win the race this year.
I have experienced two career snake years: 1989 and 2001. In 1989 I landed my first job as a magazine editor. At the very start of the year I applied for the editorship of Dolly, was on the short-list of two, but missed out. Six months later I was offered the job. It was the first significant step in my career. Then twelve years later in 2001, I made the decision to walk away from the magazine editing part of my life and toward the next part of my career in management. I consider those years to be two of the most significant in my career. I am expecting 2013 to be significant too.
Do superstitions impact your career outlook?