On Lunar New Year, the family can not spend money to buy anything or sweep and clean the house.

My informant grew up with this belief as a child.  She first heard when she was five years old.  She was helping her mother set up for Lunar New Year.  The night before Lunar New Year, the whole family including my informant had to clean the entire house and make all the food for New Years.  If the family needed to buy anything, then the family had to buy everything on New Years Eve.

My informant instilled this belief to my family and every year before Lunar New Year, the house would be cleaned and the food would have been made.  My informant learned from her parents that on Lunar New Year, no one in the Vietnamese culture does anything productive.  It is a day for relaxation and a day to spend time with the family.  One of the reasons why a person can not clean or sweep the house on Lunar New Year is that it is believed when one sweeps the house; one is sweeping all the luck away for the New Year.  A person also does not spend any money on Lunar New Year because it will show that the upcoming year, that person or family will spend a lot of money instead of saving it.  A person is suppose to enjoy Lunar New Year with relaxation because relaxation symbolizes that the person will live the next year struggle free and live with no stress.  There are many beliefs that come with the Lunar New year.  Another belief is that a person is supposed to wear something red because red symbolizes luck.