Did you know? A Clean House is a Lucky House… According to Different Cultures!
Sunday December 5, 2021
A clean house is more than just a luxury, it’s a necessity. During the pandemic, we’ve learned how vital cleaning is and how being clean can actually be life-saving. From sanitizing door knobs to washing our hands thoroughly often, we’ve learned that how clean we keep ourselves and our work and living spaces can be a matter of life and death.
But cleaning isn’t something just for really serious dirt and grime problems. Various cultures believe that cleanliness directly affects homes and the household members’ spiritual, physical, and financial welfare.
The thorough house cleaning at the end of the year is a well-known tradition followed by many cultures. Sometimes it is associated not only with the cleansing of the home but also the mind and body. Here are a couple of interesting cleaning beliefs and customs from across the globe that might inspire you to also clean your home, that your local Melbourne exterior cleaning company at Beacon Cleaning would like to share.
One of the most famous days of the year celebrated across the globe is the Chinese New Year or Chun Jie. Amongst the many rituals and superstitions that revolve around this day, the most well-known is the top to bottom cleaning of the home. They also encourage you to be careful on how you tidy your floors, to ensure good luck stays in the house, always sweep inward, collect the dirt and then throw it through the back door, never the front one. During the celebrations itself, you are forbidden from cleaning so make sure you do it right prior.
According to most feng shui consultants, cleanliness is a common issue in today’s homes. In feng shui, they see the problem with seemingly neat homes that are actually dirty is that old energy is trapped in the grime, dust, hairballs, and dirty windows and that causes stagnant energy. This can create blockages, stagnancy or making little to no progress in life.
Also, according to them, seeing dirt and grime on the window sills, the ground, or in the carpets, or bathrooms that need a thorough scrubbing can weigh on you mentally and financially. Over time, there may even be an unpleasant smell that comes with that layer of grime and dust, and that may bring a very yin or a negative/dark state.
Another cleaning ritual that your local Melbourne exterior cleaning company is Nowruz – the Persian New Year celebrated all across Iran. an important part of the preparations is, of course, the deep cleaning of the home. It includes the removal of all types of debris and dust, washing of carpets and sweeping of floors. Everything must be spotless for the new beginning.
Usually your local Melbourne exterior cleaning company associates the deep house cleaning with the Spring, however, in Japan, it is performed by the end of the year. Back in the Edo period, the royal castle was cleaned in December, and people started to mimic this and believe they not only cleanse their homes but their bodies as well. In Japanese, this cleaning tradition is called souji, or “to clean” and o-, or “big”. The most important part of this ritual cleansing is called susuharai or “dust cleaning”, and it’s performed both at home and at the workplace.
What to know why it's important to keep your business (inside and out) spotless? Click here!
Most Brits prefer to skip the deep-cleaning of the home in December. You can do a fast sweeping of the floor or dusting off the shelves but the serious work is left for Spring cleaning. It is customary to book some cleaning services while away for the Holidays. In most towns like Oxford, people prefer to celebrate now and deep-clean their homes later.
There is also the New Year's Cleaning in the Balkans. The preparations for New Year’s Eve start a couple of days earlier. The last day of the year is usually a huge feast organized by the whole family. In order to prepare for the celebrations, each family member is assigned their own cleaning task. The house must be spotless before the guests arrive. So after a long day of cooking and cleaning comes an evening filled with delicious traditional cuisine and lots of fun.
The Thai New Year doesn’t correspond with the western calendar but nevertheless the water festival, or more popularly known as Songkran, for the New Year gathers millions of people every year. During this time people wash the statues of Buddha with scented water. The liquid is then collected and the elder members of the family are sprayed with it. It is a fun and playful cleansing ritual festival known to bring good fortune.
In India, sweeping at night can bring bad luck. This may have started In ancient times, when there was no electricity, brooming at night with almost no lighting might also cause to sweep away expensive items like rings, earrings, and other valuables.
One of the cleaning traditions in the Philippines to this day is to never sweep or throw anything away on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day to avoid driving luck away from the rest of the year. You have to clean and throw things away before the eve in order to welcome blessings and luck during the eve and New Year’s Day.
On the other hand, many cultures say that not cleaning the entire house on New Year’s Day would make people lazy for the rest of the year. It follows the belief that what you do on New Year’s Day will reflect what your drive and deeds will be for the rest of the year.
In Malaysia, there are two popular superstitions about brooms. First, never let a broom touch the ground when you’re not using it, because it’ll sweep away luck in a household, even if it’s just sitting in the corner. Brooms also shouldn’t be stacked together when they’re hung up, because it will cause quarrels in the family.
We are sure these unique beliefs can be intriguing and perhaps, you might adopt some of them for practical or curious reasons. For everything else, specifically your home exteriors, Beacon Exterior Cleaning Specialists are the best people to rely on to make sure your home is more than ready to welcome luck and blessings this coming New Year. Contact us so you can get a quote for our signature high-quality service, done by your Melbourne exterior cleaning experts at Beacon Cleaning.
