Getting lucky in the Year of the Pig
Published Feb 03, 2019 00:00 am
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Updated Feb 03, 2019 00:00 am
By Erma Edera and Minka Klaudia Tiangco
Visits to Chinatown, festive lion and dragon dances, colorful fireworks displays, and lots of food – the Filipino-Chinese community’s way of celebrating Chinese New Year is unlike any other.
Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival, will begin at 11 a.m. on Monday, February 4. To help you in ringing in the Chinese New Year, renowned feng shui expert Princesse Lim Fernandez shared some tips on what to prepare and what the signs can expect in the Year of the Earth Pig.
CHINESE NEW YEAR COUNTDOWN– Teacup pigs, a rare pet in the Philippines, are brought to the Lucky Chinatown mall in Binondo, Manila, Saturday. 2019 is the Year of the Pig in the Chinese lunar calendar, and is seen as time of abundance, diligence and generosity. (ALI VICOY / MANILA BULLETIN)
Dos and don’ts
Fernandez said the most important thing to do is to ensure that you “start the New Year fresh.”
“By now, you should have already finished your spring cleaning and de-cluttering the home. Otherwise, you still have today to do so before the Chinese New Year’s Eve,” she said.
For those who were not able to spruce up their homes and workspaces before now, Fernandez advises to at least keep the “key areas,” including their altars, clean.
Offerings should be made in their altars at home, including two candles, incense, four oranges, “huat ke” or mamon, candies, flowers, and “tikoy.”
She said one should strive to “start the New Year with a clean slate” by going over their finances and checking which accounts need to be settled. Old debts should be left behind in the previous year, she added.
The feng shui expert said now is a good time to resolve any quarrels and misunderstandings one may have had with family and friends during the months leading to the New Year.
One should also take their own appearance into account in preparing for the New Year. “It is always important to look fresh to usher the beginning of spring,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez advised getting a haircut and wearing new clothes to welcome the New Year. She also said one should bathe in water that was boiled in pomelo leaves to symbolize starting the year fresh.
The feng shui expert said one should adopt a positive disposition in ringing in the Chinese New Year. Being grateful for the blessings and lessons the previous year has brought and being kind to others is one of the best ways to celebrate the New Year, she said.
Fernandez advised attending happy celebrations and adopting a festive mood to welcome the New Year.
“It’s best to avoid attending negative gatherings and rather attend happy celebrations like weddings, baptisms, and birthday parties to imbibe positive Chi and boost your luck,” she said.
“Being in a celebratory and fun environment, surrounded by happy and positive people at the start of the Chinese New Year helps set the tone for your year ahead.”
Getting lucky
There are several ways to ensure that luck stays with you throughout the year, including serving the right food on Chinese New Year and incorporating the right colors in your daily life.
The Chinese pride themselves in serving food that is both tasty and lucky. Both the names and appearance of food are symbols of wishes for prosperity, happiness and success.
Before setting up the table for Chinese New Year’s Eve, Fernandez said one should fill their rice bins to the brim and place red envelopes, locally known as “ang pao,” containing P168 in mixed denominations inside.
Fernandez said it is good to welcome the New Year with five different fruits on the table. This includes two pineapples, four oranges, four apples, two melons, and a bunch of grapes.
She also encouraged serving some peanuts in shell, sweet candies, cake, radish cake, watermelon seeds, pistachio, and “tikoy” during New Year’s Eve dinner. Having flowers and “ang paos” nearby is also good, she added.
The colors that compose the luck-inducing palette of 2019 are orange, coral, pink, salmon, yellow, beige, and brown. Fernandez said it is best to use these colors when attending parties and celebrations.
She said everyone has a “personal lucky color” based on their birthday, which they can find out by consulting with feng shui experts.
Since their birthdays do not change, they can wear their personal lucky colors year in, year out.
Lucky and unlucky signs
Fernandez said the animal signs in the Chinese zodiac which will be lucky in 2019 are the Horse, Rabbit, Dragon, and Monkey, while the signs that should be careful this year are the Pig, Ox, Snake, and Goat.
She said if one’s birth chart shows that their luck won’t be so good for the New Year, then they have to pay extra attention to the feng shui arrangement of their home and office.
Fernandez said they should help give their luck a boost by tapping the “auspicious” energies in their home and curing the “inauspicious” energies.
In the feng shui chart for the Year of the Earth Pig, the red stars, or “auspicious energies,” are the prosperity star at the northwest direction, the career and academic star at the north, the romance star at the west, the wealth star at the center, and the travel and fame star at the east.
Meanwhile, the black stars, or the “inauspicious energies,” include the sickness and backstabbing star at the northeast, the disaster star at the southwest, the conflict star at the south, and the robbery star at the southeast.
“Keep the areas with the inauspicious stars quiet and minimize use and activity there so as not to inadvertently awaken these stars,” she said.
“To help boost their luck, they should enhance the energies the auspicious stars bring by ensuring that these areas in their home and office are neat, clean, clutter-free and well-lit.”
CHINESE NEW YEAR COUNTDOWN– Teacup pigs, a rare pet in the Philippines, are brought to the Lucky Chinatown mall in Binondo, Manila, Saturday. 2019 is the Year of the Pig in the Chinese lunar calendar, and is seen as time of abundance, diligence and generosity. (ALI VICOY / MANILA BULLETIN)
Dos and don’ts
Fernandez said the most important thing to do is to ensure that you “start the New Year fresh.”
“By now, you should have already finished your spring cleaning and de-cluttering the home. Otherwise, you still have today to do so before the Chinese New Year’s Eve,” she said.
For those who were not able to spruce up their homes and workspaces before now, Fernandez advises to at least keep the “key areas,” including their altars, clean.
Offerings should be made in their altars at home, including two candles, incense, four oranges, “huat ke” or mamon, candies, flowers, and “tikoy.”
She said one should strive to “start the New Year with a clean slate” by going over their finances and checking which accounts need to be settled. Old debts should be left behind in the previous year, she added.
The feng shui expert said now is a good time to resolve any quarrels and misunderstandings one may have had with family and friends during the months leading to the New Year.
One should also take their own appearance into account in preparing for the New Year. “It is always important to look fresh to usher the beginning of spring,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez advised getting a haircut and wearing new clothes to welcome the New Year. She also said one should bathe in water that was boiled in pomelo leaves to symbolize starting the year fresh.
The feng shui expert said one should adopt a positive disposition in ringing in the Chinese New Year. Being grateful for the blessings and lessons the previous year has brought and being kind to others is one of the best ways to celebrate the New Year, she said.
Fernandez advised attending happy celebrations and adopting a festive mood to welcome the New Year.
“It’s best to avoid attending negative gatherings and rather attend happy celebrations like weddings, baptisms, and birthday parties to imbibe positive Chi and boost your luck,” she said.
“Being in a celebratory and fun environment, surrounded by happy and positive people at the start of the Chinese New Year helps set the tone for your year ahead.”
Getting lucky
There are several ways to ensure that luck stays with you throughout the year, including serving the right food on Chinese New Year and incorporating the right colors in your daily life.
The Chinese pride themselves in serving food that is both tasty and lucky. Both the names and appearance of food are symbols of wishes for prosperity, happiness and success.
Before setting up the table for Chinese New Year’s Eve, Fernandez said one should fill their rice bins to the brim and place red envelopes, locally known as “ang pao,” containing P168 in mixed denominations inside.
Fernandez said it is good to welcome the New Year with five different fruits on the table. This includes two pineapples, four oranges, four apples, two melons, and a bunch of grapes.
She also encouraged serving some peanuts in shell, sweet candies, cake, radish cake, watermelon seeds, pistachio, and “tikoy” during New Year’s Eve dinner. Having flowers and “ang paos” nearby is also good, she added.
The colors that compose the luck-inducing palette of 2019 are orange, coral, pink, salmon, yellow, beige, and brown. Fernandez said it is best to use these colors when attending parties and celebrations.
She said everyone has a “personal lucky color” based on their birthday, which they can find out by consulting with feng shui experts.
Since their birthdays do not change, they can wear their personal lucky colors year in, year out.
Lucky and unlucky signs
Fernandez said the animal signs in the Chinese zodiac which will be lucky in 2019 are the Horse, Rabbit, Dragon, and Monkey, while the signs that should be careful this year are the Pig, Ox, Snake, and Goat.
She said if one’s birth chart shows that their luck won’t be so good for the New Year, then they have to pay extra attention to the feng shui arrangement of their home and office.
Fernandez said they should help give their luck a boost by tapping the “auspicious” energies in their home and curing the “inauspicious” energies.
In the feng shui chart for the Year of the Earth Pig, the red stars, or “auspicious energies,” are the prosperity star at the northwest direction, the career and academic star at the north, the romance star at the west, the wealth star at the center, and the travel and fame star at the east.
Meanwhile, the black stars, or the “inauspicious energies,” include the sickness and backstabbing star at the northeast, the disaster star at the southwest, the conflict star at the south, and the robbery star at the southeast.
“Keep the areas with the inauspicious stars quiet and minimize use and activity there so as not to inadvertently awaken these stars,” she said.
“To help boost their luck, they should enhance the energies the auspicious stars bring by ensuring that these areas in their home and office are neat, clean, clutter-free and well-lit.”