Sweeping the dust has been a traditional custom in China for a long time. Around the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, every household will sweep the dust in their house.

Literally, weeping the dust means have a thorough cleaning of a house. In Chinese, dust shares the same pronunciation with the word of past and it also has the meaning of the old and past.

Therefore, sweeping the dust before the Spring Festival also means to sweep away the bad luck in the past year. Read the rest of this entry »