Everyday Life
How should I understand red envelopes, joss paper, and New Year customs?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
Begin with what New Year customs express rather than treating every rule as bringing misfortune if touched. Some are auspicious symbols connected with past ways of life. Avoiding sweeping, washing hair, or bathing on the first day reflects concern about sweeping or washing wealth away. But times and living habits change and need consideration too.
I wash my hair every day, including the first and second lunar days, without following every custom unchanged. Cooperate where possible. A dirty home or rubbish needing removal is not absolutely untouchable. Before the New Year's Eve reunion meal, I bathe with the intention of washing away old ill fortune and welcoming the new year. Respect the meaning without becoming excessively anxious.
Red envelopes also consider New Year goodwill and recipients' feelings. Tradition favors good things in pairs and auspicious numbers, while the sound of four raises concerns. I used amounts such as one thousand and eleven hundred to explain customary views of ending figures, not a straightforward mathematical test of odd and even.
New Year visits are not only temple prayers. Visiting relatives and friends and sharing good wishes also express that intention. Visiting Sheng Zhen Men can be understood similarly. Opening dates depend on that year's arrangements. Old invitations cannot continually serve as current event notices.
We also discussed news about Lantern Festival taboos. They can be heard and understood without rigidly applying every form. Keep a good mood while noticing actual conditions rather than becoming careless because it is New Year. Activities canceled during the pandemic involved circumstances of that time and cannot be considered without context.
Red envelopes need not become only inviolable rules. I questioned claims that amounts given to younger generations must never exceed those given to elders; each family's situation still matters. I also discussed reusing an unused envelope without an outdated zodiac design. Being kept for a year alone does not require discarding it.