Long time ago in China, there are many beliefs that inspired children throughout their childhood up to adulthood. One popular belief that is still mentioned in today's society reflect on the rules that are not meant to be broken on New Years Day. These rules include: one, people cannot say anything negative on that day; second, people are not allowed to break/damage things; three, people have to clean the house, throw out the old and put in the new. If any of these rules are broken, people would have bad luck until the end of the year.
All of my bad luck started when I was in my room on a Monday evening, writing an essay on a parental relationship with their children. I was thinking for 10 mins already and still no ideas popped into my head. I only had five minutes remaining. After, I had to celebrate New Year, so how on earth would I get this done? I could already hear the fireworks exploding in the sky.
bad luck
Bad Luck Blackie
Happy New YearI looked out of my window to see flowers blooming luminously, brightening up the night sky. My work was due the nest morning! I began to stress and I gripped my pencil tightly. It snapped. Sweat began to pour down my face as I loosen my grip to find marks on my hand.
"Oh dear," I murmured, "I've broken something. What can I do? I don't want to have bad luck for the rest of my life!"The next morning, I arrived to school with no essay in my hand. That essay was going to be graded and marked on my report but unfortunately I had left it at home. Later I tripped five times while I walked down the school hall to receive my award. Then, during the school hours, I kept on bumping into the mad principal who gave me detention for the whole entire week. After school I walked home with raindrops rolling down my rosy cheeks.
"What's wrong honey? Why are you so upset?" asked my father.
"I'd broken a pencil yesterday and my bad luck is growing," I cried. Dad patted me on the back.
"Oh darling, those rules were made up. They are just part of the tradition."I ran out of tears for a second. "Really? Then how come I kept on tripping over andâ¦andâ¦"I snorted.
"Oh people have a bad day once in a while. Look, when I was younger, I broke 50 china plates on New Year, Nothing bad happened-besides getting into trouble. Calm down dear. It's just a myth.""I don't believe you," I smiled. Dad pulled something out of his pocket. "hey take this lucky money. Happy New Year! I'm sure it'll make your life luckier again.""Thanks Dad. You're the best." I pecked him on the cheek. I opened the envelope to see $100 inside, "I'm rich!". And this was the essay that I had forgotten on the day.
7 Years of Bad Luck
Still from "Seven Years Bad Luck" (1921), starring...
Bad luck omikuji at the Yasaka shrine