Thaindian News

Beijing, March 6 (IANS) Sunday, March 6, was the second day of the second lunar month in China. Considered a lucky day, many Chinese nationals got a haircut to give themselves a vigorous start to the new year.

Barber shops across China opened early to begin one of their busiest days of the year.

Many people strictly observed the “no haircut” tradition during the first month of the lunar new year celebrations, Xinhua reported.

Chinese people hold the belief that if a person had a haircut during the first month of the lunar year, a maternal uncle will die.

As a result, barber shops stay open almost 18 hours a day in the pre-Lunar New Year rush for haircuts.

The “no haircut” legend says that a poor, parentless barber loved his uncle dearly but could not afford a decent new year’s gift for him. So he gave his uncle a nice haircut that made the old man look many years younger.

His uncle said it was the best gift he had ever had and wished to get a haircut every year from him.

After his uncle died, the barber missed him very much and cried every new year.

Over the years, his “thinking of his uncle” was interpreted as “death of uncle”, because in Chinese, their pronunciations are almost the same.

Cao Baoming, vice chief of China Society for the Study of Folk Literature and Art said the haircut tradition comes from the worship of the dragon, as people believe it symbolises luck.