A saying popular in Beijing vividly expressed the holiday spirit of China’s Spring Festival, “Eat sticky candy on the twenty-third; sweep clean the house on the twenty-fourth; fry up tofu on the twenty-fifth; stew some mutton on the twenty-sixth; kill the rooster on the twenty-seventh; set dough to rise on the twenty-eighth; steam mantou buns on the twenty-ninth; stay up all night on New Year’s Eve; pay holiday visits on New Year’s Day”.
Tangerines and oranges are the “lucky” fruits and the best presents during the Spring Festival as in Guangdong dialect, the words for tangerines and oranges sound like luck and wealth.
From New Year’s Day through the fourth day of the new year, it was forbidden to do needlework, use scissors, or sweep the floor, which are just some of the various strictures and taboos surrounding this holiday.
