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Chinese New Year is made up of a rich fabric of symbols, traditions and superstitions designed to influence the future. With a cultural heritage that spans more than 5,000 years, it’s a 15-day celebration filled food that may shape your future.

Many Chinese New Year traditions are about sending the cosmos a message using common objects to represent ideas. In Chinese tradition, by observing practices that are part faith, part folklore and part custom, you can encourage happiness and wealth into your life. This year’s Chinese New Year began on February 14, so there’s still some time to add these foods to your menu (or omit them as the case may be)!

• Noodles: When served during Chinese New Year, noodles shouldn’t be cut or broken into pieces. Long noodles represent a nice long life.
• Chinese Dumplings: If you plan on following this Chinese New Year tradition, encourage everyone in the family to participate in the preparation and conceal a coin in one of the dumplings in the batch. If the person who finds it doesn’t chip a tooth, he’s destined to have a very, very lucky year.
• White Foods: Although you’ll see tofu in some recipes, serving white ingredients is usually considered bad luck during the 15-day celebration. White represents bad fortune and even death, although in other areas of Chinese life it can mean purity, too.

Full list at HowStuffWorks.com.

Total aggregation of HowStuffWorks.com.

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