Barbers have a hair-raising day
Source: Xinhua |
March 18, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
JUST a month after Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, here comes another tradition - to have a haircut on the second day of the second month, or Er Yue Er, to bring good luck for the year.
China's barber shops saw one of their busiest days of the year yesterday on Er Yue Er, also known as Longtaitou (Dragon Raises Its Head) on the lunar calendar this year.
Many Chinese hold the superstitious belief that getting a haircut when the "dragon raises its head" means they will have a rosy year but if they have a haircut during the first month of the lunar year, his or her maternal uncle will die.
As a result, barbershops stay open almost 18 hours a day in the rush for haircuts that lasts for at least two weeks.
While women like to spruce up for the holiday, even men with short hair like to get a trim before the lunar new year begins lest their hair grows too long before their next haircut, scheduled on the second day of the second lunar month.
A Chinese legend goes that a poor barber loved his uncle dearly but could not afford a decent new year's gift for him. So he gave his uncle a haircut that made the old man look many years younger. His uncle said it was his favorite gift and wanted a haircut every year from him.
After his uncle died, the barber cried every new year. Over the years, his "thinking of his uncle" was interpreted as "death of uncle" because in Chinese, the pronunciations are almost the same.
Cao Baoming, vice chief of the China Society for the Study of Folk Literature and Art, said the haircut tradition came from the dragon, as people believed it symbolized luck.
"The lucky tradition goes back thousands of years," Cao said.
China's barber shops saw one of their busiest days of the year yesterday on Er Yue Er, also known as Longtaitou (Dragon Raises Its Head) on the lunar calendar this year.
Many Chinese hold the superstitious belief that getting a haircut when the "dragon raises its head" means they will have a rosy year but if they have a haircut during the first month of the lunar year, his or her maternal uncle will die.
As a result, barbershops stay open almost 18 hours a day in the rush for haircuts that lasts for at least two weeks.
While women like to spruce up for the holiday, even men with short hair like to get a trim before the lunar new year begins lest their hair grows too long before their next haircut, scheduled on the second day of the second lunar month.
A Chinese legend goes that a poor barber loved his uncle dearly but could not afford a decent new year's gift for him. So he gave his uncle a haircut that made the old man look many years younger. His uncle said it was his favorite gift and wanted a haircut every year from him.
After his uncle died, the barber cried every new year. Over the years, his "thinking of his uncle" was interpreted as "death of uncle" because in Chinese, the pronunciations are almost the same.
Cao Baoming, vice chief of the China Society for the Study of Folk Literature and Art, said the haircut tradition came from the dragon, as people believed it symbolized luck.
"The lucky tradition goes back thousands of years," Cao said.
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