At the Lunar New Year, there is so much preparation around the house with the cleaning, repairing, and decluttering. But once the days wind down close to the Chinese or Lunar New Year, it’s time to concentrate on having fun, decorating your house to welcome the new year, and enjoying small simple rituals that augur good fortune and that celebrate the energy of the coming year.
Let’s talk about ways you create wonderful good fortune energy in your home with some fun and easy decorations.
Always welcome the New Year at your door.
Look for ways to add vitality and blooms at your entrance. This welcomes auspicious energy and wealth chi to your home.
The Lunar New Year is perfect for adding spring branches, potted yellow mums or filling planters with narcissus. Too cold where you live? Bring those flowers indoors or add silk flowers to the front door to welcome wealth and good fortune.
Put out a new doormat, clean off your door and make the entrance sparkling and clean for the New Year, replace the foyer rug, or give it a good cleaning.
Add plants.
A plant is a source of vital growth energy and is a good symbol of health. Buy plants for your garden or indoors to represent new growth and vitality. Planting a tree or shrub in your garden in the new year is a terrific way to “plant” growth and vitality in the new year.
Decorate with the “Fu” symbol of wealth.
The fu symbol represents good luck, good fortune, and prosperity in the year ahead.
It’s traditional at the Lunar New Year to add a fu symbol by your door and to hang it upside down.
Point the way to wealth where to go.
On a large piece of clear tape, create an arrow out of a group of eight or nine lucky Chinese coins. Tape the coins to the underside of your foyer rug or carpet with the arrow pointing into your house. This will show wealth exactly where to go.
Add a bowl of gold in your home.
Put out bowls of 9 oranges and mandarins in your kitchen, dining room, or living room. Oranges are auspicious for the new year because the word ‘orange’ in mandarin is a homonym for “gold.”
Tuck in red envelopes in between the oranges with little gifts, such as coins, gift cards, dollar bills, or other surprises and offer to guests. You can also add a pineapple in the bowl of oranges as it signifies “good luck coming your way.”
Add red color to your home.
The Lunar New Year is the time to re-invigorate your home with energy. Besides cleaning, adding a green plant, or potted mums or flowers, be sure and add some red color out in your home to help energize it for success and good fortune in the New Year.
Fun Lunar New Year Rituals
Roll gold into your home.
This is one of the most fun rituals for the whole family. On the day of the Chinese New Year, roll oranges into your front door on the first day of the LNY and throw lucky Chinese coins into your house.
Have a business? Do this at the front door to bring in customers all year long.
Make a wish tree.
Find a branch in your yard or garden and spray paint it white, gold, or brown. Then wrap with tiny fairy lights and insert into a vase to create your own wish tree. Next, hang your wishes for the new year and hang from red ribbons on the branches.
Or, buy lighted branches and insert them into a vase and tie your wishes to it. For a natural tree, buy a potted orange tree and hang wishes from the branches or create a wish tree out of a shrub or plant in your yard or garden to hang wishes from for the new year.
Create a togetherness tray.
Welcome friends and family to your home at the Lunar New Year and place your togetherness tray filled with treats and edibles that everyone enjoys. The togetherness tray is a staple of the Lunar New Year and is traditionally a divided dish with sweets, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and fun edible treats.
Or, create your own by placing out bowls on a tray or a simple box wrapped in red paper. These delightful trays say welcome to your friends and family and create a communal dish for everyone to enjoy and help themselves.
With the pandemic, consider grouping small glasses together to hold treats so they can be poured out into hands rather than everyone reaching into the dish themselves. Or, add small spoons to dish out treats.
