House Cleaning
Between Laba Festival, on the eighth day of the last lunar month, and
Little New Year, on the twenty-third day, families throughout China undertake a
thorough house cleaning, sweeping out the old in preparation for the New Year.
Why do people clean house during the last month of the year? According to
Chinese folk beliefs, during the last month of the year ghosts and deities must choose either to return to Heaven or
to stay on Earth. It is believed that in order to ensure the ghosts and deities'
timely departure, people must thoroughly clean both their persons and their
dwellings, down to every last drawer and cupboard. Furthermore, as New Year's
Eve approaches, all family affairs must be put in order, in order to ensure a
fresh start in the new year. Spring Festival falls during the off season for farming,
making this a convenient time of year for a thorough house cleaning. New Year's
cleaning includes organizing the yard, as well as scrubbing the doors, windows,
and interior of the house. Old couplets and papercuts from the previous Spring Festival are taken down,
and new window decorations, New Year's posters, and auspicious decorations are
pasted up.
Preparations for Spring Festival include stocking up on necessary
provisions. At noon on New Year's Eve Day, shopkeepers everywhere put up their
shutters and lock their doors, not to reopen until the end of Spring Festival
several weeks later. Therefore, everything needed to make offerings to the
ancestors, entertain guests, and feed the family over the long holiday must be
purchased in advance. Before setting out to the market, a Spring Festival
shopping list must be made, including items such as meat, poultry, and eggs;
fruit and vegetables; rice and flour; cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, and tea; red
paper, images of celestial horses and the
Kitchen God, incense and candles, snacks, new calendars, and toys. Also not to
be forgotten are new clothes for the children and firecrackers to welcome in the
New Year.
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