Why do many Chinese people refuse to cut their hair during the first month of the lunar year?
This is because people believe that getting a haircut during the first lunar month is not a good idea. Tradition says that doing so will cause your mother's brothers to die. Although it's not true, some people still believe it.
So, after a month's wait, people usuallyflockto cut their hair on Dragon Head-Raising Day —the second day of the second lunar month. It was once tradition to line up outside of barber shops on this day.
Dragon Head-Raising Day falls on Feb 24 this year. It is an important traditional Chinese holiday. Ancient people believed that after this day, rainfall would increase because the rain-bringing Dragon King would wake up from his winter sleep. So that day is the start of spring and farming.
A well-known phrase (俗语) goes, "On the second day of the second month, the dragon lifts his head." Besides cutting their hair, there are also other ways to celebrate this holiday. For example, people eat food with "dragon names". People call noodles dragon's beard. Dumplings are dragon's ears and spring rolls (春卷) are dragon's scales (龙鳞).
