How to get lucky in the Year of the Dragon: money, colours, clothing, food
- Chinese people follow a lot of traditions to boost their luck during Lunar New Year
- Heed the advice in these stories to give yours a bump during the Year of the Dragon
Everyone hopes Lunar New Year ushers in a lucky year for them, and Chinese people follow a lot of traditions to boost their luck. Read on to find out about some of them, and how to improve your fortune in the Year of the Dragon, which starts on February 10.
1. 5 ways to improve your luck in the Year of the Dragon 2024
There are 60 deities in Chinese astrology – one for each of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs (which correspond to Jupiter’s roughly 12-year orbital cycle) combined with the five elements of Chinese astrology (metal, wood, earth, fire and water).
These deities reign one by one over a 60-year cycle. The current reigning deity is known as the Grand Duke of Jupiter, or tai sui, for that year.
2. Lunar New Year lucky foods: everything you need to know
Chinese people are practical food lovers. The dishes and ingredients served over Chinese New Year are meant to bring wealth, health and happiness in the coming year (along with some babies, too) – but they’re also delicious.
3. Fat choy: ‘lucky’ Chinese New Year food that’s turned land into desert
Among the foods typically associated with Chinese New Year are whole fish or chicken, plump prawns, sticky-rice cakes, turnip cake – and, perhaps the least attractive of them all, clumps of braised hair moss, usually nestled on a plate of cooked lettuce and dried oysters.
4. What to wear for Chinese New Year?
You can’t go wrong with a new set of clothes that are red or gold in colour for Chinese New Year.
5. Why you should wear your lucky red underwear for Lunar New Year
In Chinese culture, red, black and white are considered the three main “essential” colours.
Red – the most popular – symbolises life and its many positive aspects. Therefore, it is often associated with the vitality of life and happiness, as well as wealth, luck and success, columnist Luisa Tam writes.
6. Is Rihanna proof that Year of the Dragon babies are luckier than others?
The Year of the Dragon is thought to be a very favourable year in which to have children.
There are more births recorded in Hong Kong and China in the Year of the Dragon than in any other year in the 12-year Chinese calendrical cycle.