As people get ready to celebrate Chinese New Year, it seems like we could all do with a bit of luck in the new decade. Apol Sta. Maria’s illustration of some of the more bizarre traditional superstitions may not actually bring us better fortune, but they might just help us laugh and believe in a brighter future.

Illustrations by Apol Sta. Maria

1. Don’t even think about touching that broom! Cleaning your home on Chinese New Year will sweep all your good luck out the door. In fact, hide all those cleaning tools too for good measure. But couch potatoes beware: cleaning house is a must on the day before New Year to get rid of the Old Year.

2. As with any public holiday, indulging in one’s sweet tooth is completely acceptable and wholly justified. Chinese New Year’s excuse is that it will make your year a sweet one.

3. Blessed are the unwashed and uncut of hair, for they shall inherit good luck in the year to come (albeit a bit greasier and unkempt).

4. Those who like drama should cry on Chinese New Year, because that will pretty much guarantee them a sob fest for the entire year.

5. Resist the temptation of all those year-end and spring sales—at least when it comes to shoes. Buying shoes on this day will unleash rough seas on unsuspecting sailors and fishing boats.

6. Don’t close any doors this New Year. And we mean that literally, because keeping all the doors and windows open invites good luck to enter your house.

7. Mind that potty mouth! Unpleasant and foul conversation is totally forbidden, especially talk of ghosts or death. The Chinese word for ‘four’ is taboo on this day too, for having the unfortunate fate of sounding a lot like the word for ‘death’.

8. Though it’s good to wear red on Chinese New Year, don’t end the year in the red, so to speak, or you’ll be chasing debts (or running from loansharks) all year long.

9. The abridged Chinese New Year dictionary: noodles (noun) – long and uncut; a synonym for longevity. Fish (noun) – spells success.

10. The only day in the year when parents tell their kids that books are bad. Somehow the Cantonese word for ‘book’ ended up sounding awfully like the word for ‘lose’. Thus, all bookstores (and books) stay closed on this day.