Cleaning the house every Tet holiday has long become a familiar lifestyle of Vietnamese people. From a feng shui perspective, cleaning the house during Tet is also considered an important step to purify old energy and welcome new vitality.
Sharing with Lao Dong, feng shui expert, architect Pham Cuong said that cleaning the house on Tet is not only physical hygiene but actually an important energy purification ritual, based on the core principle of "Song cuu nghinh tan", meaning "See the old go, welcome the new".
''Over the past year, each family's house has accumulated a lot of dust and along with that, stagnant energy (yin energy) from worries, illnesses or bad luck. If not cleaned up, these old energies will hinder new fortune,'' expert Pham Cuong said.
Only when the space is cleaned and ventilated can the fresh, lucky "vitality" of spring flood in and circulate smoothly, thereby bringing health and fortune to the homeowner in the new year.
''A clean and tidy house is a very important criterion in feng shui. Regular cleaning is the way to continuously "activate" and refresh the energy for the house, instead of waiting for good luck to come only once during Tet,'' feng shui expert Pham Cuong added.
However, due to busy work all year round, many families only have time for general cleaning, cleaning and decorating houses and altars in the days leading up to Tet. According to expert Pham Cuong, some important time milestones need to be noted.
''The appropriate time to start cleaning is after the Ong Cong Ong Tao worshiping ceremony (i.e. after December 23rd of the lunar calendar), when the Kitchen Gods have gone to heaven, the homeowner can proceed to clean up, especially the altar area and kitchen. All cleaning and decoration needs to be completed before the New Year's Eve moment,'' the expert emphasized.
Also according to feng shui expert Pham Cuong, on the 1st day of Tet, you should not sweep the house and dump garbage. According to folk beliefs, this action is sweeping away fortune and luck that has just knocked on your door.
