How to Decorate for Chinese New Year 2024

By Master Steven Chan

Chinese New Year is a time to celebrate the start of a new year and to wish for good luck, happiness and prosperity.

One of the ways to do that is to decorate your home, office or business with festive and auspicious ornaments that symbolize the themes of the year.

In 2024, the Chinese zodiac animal is the Dragon, which represents power, strength and success. Here are some ideas for Chinese New Year decorations that will help you welcome the dragon’s energy and attract good fortune in 2024.

Lucky Chinese Red Lanterns – Symbol of Hope

Red lanterns are more than just decorative items. They have a rich cultural and historical significance in many Asian countries, especially China. Red is the color of joy and vitality, and lanterns are a symbol of hope and illumination.

Hanging red lanterns outside your door or window can brighten up your space and invite positive vibes. They can also ward off evil spirits and bring good luck to your family and friends.

Red lanterns are often used during festivals, celebrations, and special occasions, such as the Lunar New Year, the Lantern Festival, and weddings. They represent happiness, prosperity, and harmony.

Chinese New Year Couplets (对联 duìlián /dway-lyen) 

Chinese New Year couplets, or “chunlian,” are red paper cuttings with gold or black ink. They have poetic phrases that wish good fortune and wealth for the Spring Festival. They are hung on doors and walls as lucky decorations.

Chunlian have special meanings and are chosen carefully. They are written in classical Chinese and are read from top to bottom. The right side has the first half of the couplet and the left side has the second half.

Chunlian also show social messages. They can be funny, inspiring, or wise and express society’s feelings and issues. For the Chinese New Year 2023, you can decorate your home with traditional chunlian.

Feng Shui Objects- Enhance Well-being

Here are some examples of Feng Shui objects and how to use them for the New Year:

Put up a CNY wreath on your door. This is a circular arrangement of flowers, plants, or fruits that symbolizes completeness and harmony. You can choose colors that match the element of your door’s direction, such as red for south, green for east, white for west, and black for north.

Place a festive mat by the door for good luck. This is a simple way to welcome positive energy and guests into your home. You can choose a mat that has auspicious words or symbols, such as “Happy New Year”, “Prosperity”, or a dragon or lion.

Decorate your entrance with festive plants. Plants are a great way to bring life and vitality to your space. You can choose plants that have lucky meanings, such as orchids, hyacinths, peonies, or lucky bamboo. These plants can also enhance the Feng Shui of your entrance by activating the element of wood, which represents growth and abundance.

Hang a crystal lotus in the window to catch the sunlight and create rainbows in your home. The lotus is a symbol of purity, beauty, and enlightenment. It can also activate the water element, which is associated with wealth and career.

Place a Feng Shui fountain in the north sector of your home or office to activate the career area. Water is a symbol of flow, movement, and opportunity. A fountain can create positive Qi and attract new possibilities and income sources.

Hang wind chimes in the west sector of your home or office to activate the creativity and children area. Wind chimes are a symbol of sound, movement, and harmony. They can stimulate new ideas and projects, as well as enhance the well-being of your children.

Place a wealth bowl near the entrance or in the wealth corner of your home (the southeast sector). This is a bowl filled with coins, bills, jewels, or other symbols of wealth that can attract more money and abundance into your life. You can also add some items that represent your personal goals, such as a passport for travel or a diploma for education.

Red Envelopes

Red Envelopes – For a Peaceful Year

Red envelopes are a traditional gift for children or elderly people during Chinese New Year. They are red paper packets with money inside, usually decorated with gold Chinese characters or symbols.

The red color symbolizes luck, happiness, and good fortune in Chinese culture. The money is called ya sui qian, which means ‘suppressing Sui money’. Sui is a demon that used to terrify children on New Year’s Eve, but was scared away by eight coins wrapped in red paper. Giving red envelopes is a way to wish the recipients a safe and peaceful year.

Decorate using oranges and tangerines

Decorate with Oranges and Tangerines

It is a good idea to decorate tables for the Chinese New Year using oranges and tangerines. In Chinese culture, oranges and tangerines are symbols of good luck and abundance and are often used as decorations during the New Year.

Oranges and tangerines are believed to bring good fortune and prosperity to those who display them. It is also recommended to place trays with sweets and dry fruits on the table to ensure energy fluidization.

Chunlian

Paper Cuttings

Paper cuttings are a popular form of folk art in China that is often used to decorate homes and public spaces during the Chinese New Year. To create a paper cutting, you will need a piece of paper, scissors, and a design or pattern. First, use the scissors to cut out the design or pattern on the paper. The Chinese families decorate the door of their houses with red paper cut in the shape of the word “fu,” which means “luck,” but also with images depicting fishes, bats, and other animals that correspond to the respective year – in this case, the Dragon. Once the paper cutting is complete, it can be hung on a wall or window using tape or glue.

Kumquat Trees

The Kumquat trees symbolize prosperity and luck, so we should decorate our houses on the Chinese New Year with these “golden trees”.

Golden Pumpkin

If you want luck and money on Chinese New Year, placing a golden pumpkin on the bedroom nightstands would be good. Also, this will protect you against sickness, and it will maintain a perfect mood.

Blooming Flowers

Every house needs blooming flowers on New Year as a symbol of rebirth. The floral arrangements made of plum, bamboo blossoms, and pine branches were prevalent during this period. The plum flowers symbolize perseverance, the bamboo signifies flexibility, and the evergreen pine symbolizes longevity.

Bowl of Fruit

Glass Bowl Full of Fruit

Apart from being used for decoration, in the esoteric world, these pots are used to bring good luck when filled with fruit.

They should be placed in the living room or dining room on Chinese New Year’s Eve. You can also put cinnamon and vanilla sticks in them. They have a greater power to attract luck when filled with fresh fruit, not plastic.

You should also pay attention to the objects you have in your home, whether decorative or personal, if you know they have brought you good luck, whether it is a dress, a brooch, a piece of jewelry, or anything else.

Square Plates and Round Teacups

Usually, a platter with oranges and tangerines, candies, and eight types of dry sweet fruits will be placed in the guest room, symbolizing “abundant happiness”. The sweets tray must be round or rectangular, called “the tray of togetherness”. After some sweets are served from this platter, the adults will place them in its center red envelope.

Besides these arrangements, people clean their houses to ward off bad luck and repaint the doors and the window sills, usually with red paint.

Traditionally, each family performs general house cleaning to eliminate any unhappiness in the hope of a better year.

Before the beginning of the holiday, the houses need to be cleaned, and all the cleaning supplies are thrown before the New Year.

One superstition claims that if you sweep during this period, you throw away the luck for the entire year.

Throughout the Spring Festival, large quantities of food are consumed, larger than at any other time.

This massive quantity of food symbolizes abundance and wealth in the house they are served.

During the last evening of the year, people don’t sleep until midnight to say goodbye to the old year and welcome the New Year.

At midnight, they open the doors and windows for ten minutes to let the old year pass and make way for the year just beginning. The evening ends with fireworks to ward off the evil spirits.

Some say that those who don’t follow these rituals and traditions risk not having a good journey in the coming year.

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