To encourage a bright new start and a positive attitude, my parents would never reprimand their children on New Year's Day, and as youngsters, my sister and I were outfitted in pink or red, the colors of good luck. When I was about 9 years old, my parents took our family to Marysville, to visit the temples there. Her disappointment was not that I was playing with dangerous fireworks, but that I was kneeling on the pavement and dirtying my frilly pink dress. Traditions of preparing the home for New Year include rituals of food, colors, flowers and omens. To invite prosperity and happiness to the family, festive foods must be cooked and displayed, either on the kitchen table, at the family altar, or in the living room.
Many traditional dishes have auspicious undertones and definitions.
Noodles served at the end of a meal represent long life, the longer the better. Never serve macaroni at New Year's, or at birthdays. The well-dressed New Year's home glows in red, orange, gold and green. Oranges and tangerines, with stems and leaves intact, are placed on platters around the house because they represent the sweetness of life, and the green leaves predict friendship and allegiance. Pomelos, the larger the better, should be placed where they can augur abundance.