New Year Traditions Clean House

It s considered that this tradition began in the heian period 794 1185 as a rite for praying for the new year.

New year traditions clean house. Traditionally great emphasis was placed on sweeping out the fireplace to rid the house and its inhabitants of any unwanted burdens. In regions outside north america similar cleaning rituals can span across a certain time period or season as it does in the united states or they can occur on a single day. We ve all heard of spring cleaning and many people also believe that a clean house is a necessity to welcome in the new year.

Out with the old in with the new they say. Most people believe in the idea that cleaning your house before the first day of the new year ensures that you don t carry in your old somewhat soiled life into the new year. According to chinese new year traditions you must clean your house from top to bottom to get rid off all the bad luck gathered in the past year settle all your debts and put away all your knives sonst the good luck will be cut off.

In chinese dust is a homophone for the word chen meaning the old. To begin one otherwise is considered bad luck. And it isn t just the house that gets an updated look for lny.

Cleaning the house is a long observed chinese new year tradition. New clothes are also a part of the holiday celebration a trend luxury brands have been keen to capitalise on. One common tradition is cleaning your house thoroughly on or before new year s eve.

There s a custom of cleaning all the house on the new year s eve aka omisoka in japan which is called osouji the great cleaning. In scotland new year s eve or hogmanay as they call the last day of the year is a bigger deal than christmas auld lang syne is a scottish song after all the massive party goes on for days and incorporates age old acts such as first footing. The ground the walls and every corner of the house need to be cleaned.

Edo castle started to be cleaned in december and people started to believe that the december cleaning was not merely a matter of cleaning the house but also as a purification ritual in preparation for greeting the new year god toshigami sama. Therefore a year end cleaning is needed to drive the old things or the bad luck away from the house and get ready for a new start. Cleaning house may not seem like the most joyous of traditions but as a ritual it sets the tone for the new year to start fresh.