Moving into a new flat

[myfs_97373]

I am a proud owner of a new flat. I am checking on some customs or practise before i enter my flat for the first time after I have obtain the keys.
My dad said that for prosperity, i would need to put in a Pineapple into the flat, the first time i visit the flat with my key. However i should then just closed the door and visit it the next day instead. By doing so, the pineapple is supposed to bring prosperity to the flat.
My mum mentioned about sprinkling salt and rice into the flat the first time i step into the place.
I read somewhere that i should knock the door before entering any place to ensure my presence?
Could you advise or show any sites where customs or good fengshui practise related to moving into a flat is avalible?
I will subsribed to the Selection of Auspicous Date service. Can i used the dates indicated there to plan for my house FIRST VISIT, ROM, Marriage, Renovation Start dates and so on?
THanks for your advise!

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Esther,
Firstly, Congratulations! On getting your new keys!
If we analyse all the various customs, it is symbolic of "throwing wealth" into the home.
For example, Singapore has one of the largest population of Hokkiens (from Fujian Province, China).
THE PINEAPPLE
Thus, pineapple in Hokkien sounds like " Ong Lye " or "Ong" prosperity.
In general, many Hokkiens were told to roll in a pineapple into the home. Thus rolling in of a pineapple or "Ong" (Prosperity) sounds like rolling in LUCK into the home!
Depending on one's dialect group, there are various other "Jumping in" or "throwing in" process. As mentioned above, all these have to do with the idea of throwing in "luck" into one's home.
Thus, if you were advised to "throw" in a pineapple, *JOKE* you may perhaps, try your luck or make some practises at the bowling alley, first!
Just remember that the idea, here is to "roll" not "fly-in" the pineapple. It would be considered very inauspicious if one throws it too hard; where the pineapple simply rolls to the balcony and flys off the home. Here, one's wealth just fly-out of the window. Hows this for bad luck?
Therefore, if possible, try to roll it into the home gently. It would be great if it rolls to the "centre" area of the home. Here, wealth will spread to all other rooms.
RICE
Yes, as mentioned above, since the stable food of the Chinese is rice, than it is natural to go into the home and sprinkle (scatter) rice all around the various rooms of the home. (REMEMBER AGAIN: Don't spill it out of the window).
The morale of the story? Erh.. Don't open the window when you do such things.
GREEN BEANS
Green symbolise the East or rising sun. And again scattering green beans in the home is symbolic of seeding the home (with children). Just imagine - the hope is that green beans sprout in the home .. and this symbolic gesture has to do with this. Erh.. Don't purposely, water them to germinate them.
SALT
Especially if the house is a second-hand one, often, salt is sprinkled around the home to supposely cleanse away bad qi or old qi. And also sprinkled in the toilet.
"Huat Quay" or Rising Cake
Some Hokkiens like to bring in this cake. As the Hokkien term "Huat" suggests, it means "prosper". And bringing in this item is symbolic of rise or raise.
(Most often, this is brought in during the selection of the move-in date.) I have attached a brief description of what to do during an actual move-in. As opposed to this "getting" the key stage.
Some of the procedures mentioned under the attached doc file is often performed during the actual move-in.
But, some Chinese prefer to do it during the "getting the key" or first day. While others do it during the actual move-in date.
Since your parent suggested "pineapple", I believe, that one of your parents must be a Hokkien. Anyway Hokkiens are more "Ching Chye" or more easy going.
Frankly, one do not need to perform this ritual so often. E.g. getting the key stage, move-in stage. As it would seem quite repetitive and not so meaningful. Anyway, if one is the "Kiasu" (scared to lose type) or the "Kiasee" (or die, cannot lose type). there is no harm if one does this all over again and again.
THE CANTONESE DIALECT GROUP
Some Cantonese like to bring in all a combination of 5 fruits e.g. Mandarin Oranges (which to the Cantonese "KUM" means gold), banana, etc...
The Cantonese like to buy a new charcoal stove, light it up, and boil water; (prior before, this, many would go to the sports stadium to practise some high-jump *JUMP).
Actually, this is often done DURING THE MOVE-IN DATE. Where, they would jump over the stove (without getting hurt) into the house.
THE RELIGIOUS INCLINED
Many of those who are taoists, often pray to all the gods at the four corners of their new home. And they offer, incense, burn joss paper etc...
This therefore depends on your religious inclinations.
If one is a free thinker etc... skip this step.
VARIOUS CHINESE DIALECT GROUP
As mentioned above, there are so many separate Chinese dialect groups.
But as I had mentioned earlier, if we can focus on the "process" they are:
1. Each dialect group likes to bring in something that "sounds-like" - prosperity, bring them good luck, raise, promotion or "gold" into their home.
2. The throwing-in is symbolic of throwing wealth into the home.
OTHER RACES? *JOKE*
Well, just maybe, the Americans could perhaps throw in "potatoes" or sprinkle "potato chips"; " hot dogs" etc..
For vegetarians, could bring in 5 different types of beans, etc...
When to remove or spring clean after sprinkling.
It is best not to spring clean on the same day as one sprinkle or spread such things into the home.
Some Chinese simply leave the pineapple to "split open" and then throw them away. There were several cases, where this seems to be a very expensive excercise! As these owners owned marble floors. And the juice of the pineapple litterally soak into the floor.
KNOCKING THE DOOR BEFORE ENTERING!
To be continued .. in the next message....

Quote

On 10/24/2003 7:15:50 AM, Anonymous wrote:
I am a proud owner of a new
flat. I am checking on some
customs or practise before i
enter my flat for the first
time after I have obtain the
keys.
My dad said that for
prosperity, i would need to
put in a Pineapple into the
flat, the first time i visit
the flat with my key. However
i should then just closed the
door and visit it the next day
instead. By doing so, the
pineapple is supposed to bring
prosperity to the flat.
My mum mentioned about
sprinkling salt and rice into
the flat the first time i step
into the place.
I read somewhere that i should
knock the door before entering
any place to ensure my
presence?
Could you advise or show any
sites where customs or good
fengshui practise related to
moving into a flat is
avalible?
I will subsribed to the
Selection of Auspicous Date
service. Can i used the dates
indicated there to plan for my
house FIRST VISIT, ROM,
Marriage, Renovation Start
dates and so on?
THanks for your advise!

[Cecil Lee]

Dear Esther,
Knocking the door
The idea here is to seek the "spirits" permission to enter the home.
But, frankly, not many people does this sort of thing.
In fact, it is better not to do so, based on symbolism. Knocking could alternatively seem to "knock" away one's luck even before entering the home.
Well, I hope, that by now, you should have a good idea of what to do.
Warmest Regards,
Cecil

Quote

On 10/24/2003 7:45:31 AM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear Esther,
Firstly, Congratulations! On
getting your new keys!
If we analyse all the various
customs, it is symbolic of
"throwing wealth" into the
home.
For example, Singapore has one
of the largest population of
Hokkiens (from Fujian
Province, China).
THE PINEAPPLE
Thus, pineapple in Hokkien
sounds like " Ong Lye " or
"Ong" prosperity.
In general, many Hokkiens were
told to roll in a pineapple
into the home. Thus rolling in
of a pineapple or "Ong"
(Prosperity) sounds like
rolling in LUCK into the home!
Depending on one's dialect
group, there are various other
"Jumping in" or "throwing in"
process. As mentioned above,
all these have to do with the
idea of throwing in "luck"
into one's home.
Thus, if you were advised to
"throw" in a pineapple, *JOKE*
you may perhaps, try your luck
or make some practises at the
bowling alley, first!
Just remember that the idea,
here is to "roll" not "fly-in"
the pineapple. It would be
considered very inauspicious
if one throws it too hard;
where the pineapple simply
rolls to the balcony and flys
off the home. Here, one's
wealth just fly-out of the
window. Hows this for bad
luck?
Therefore, if possible, try to
roll it into the home gently.
It would be great if it rolls
to the "centre" area of the
home. Here, wealth will spread
to all other rooms.
RICE
Yes, as mentioned above, since
the stable food of the Chinese
is rice, than it is natural to
go into the home and sprinkle
(scatter) rice all around the
various rooms of the home.
(REMEMBER AGAIN: Don't spill
it out of the window).
The morale of the story? Erh..
Don't open the window when you
do such things.
GREEN BEANS
Green symbolise the East or
rising sun. And again
scattering green beans in the
home is symbolic of seeding
the home (with children). Just
imagine - the hope is that
green beans sprout in the home
.. and this symbolic gesture
has to do with this. Erh..
Don't purposely, water them to
germinate them.
SALT
Especially if the house is a
second-hand one, often, salt
is sprinkled around the home
to supposely cleanse away bad
qi or old qi. And also
sprinkled in the toilet.
"Huat Quay" or Rising Cake
Some Hokkiens like to bring in
this cake. As the Hokkien term
"Huat" suggests, it means
"prosper". And bringing in
this item is symbolic of rise
or raise.
(Most often, this is brought
in during the selection of the
move-in date.) I have attached
a brief description of what to
do during an actual move-in.
As opposed to this "getting"
the key stage.
Some of the procedures
mentioned under the attached
doc file is often performed
during the actual move-in.
But, some Chinese prefer to do
it during the "getting the
key" or first day. While
others do it during the actual
move-in date.
Since your parent suggested
"pineapple", I believe, that
one of your parents must be a
Hokkien. Anyway Hokkiens are
more "Ching Chye" or more easy
going.
Frankly, one do not need to
perform this ritual so often.
E.g. getting the key stage,
move-in stage. As it would
seem quite repetitive and not
so meaningful. Anyway, if one
is the "Kiasu" (scared to lose
type) or the "Kiasee" (or die,
cannot lose type). there is no
harm if one does this all over
again and again.
THE CANTONESE DIALECT GROUP
Some Cantonese like to bring
in all a combination of 5
fruits e.g. Mandarin Oranges
(which to the Cantonese "KUM"
means gold), banana, etc...
The Cantonese like to buy a
new charcoal stove, light it
up, and boil water; (prior
before, this, many would go to
the sports stadium to practise
some high-jump *JUMP).
Actually, this is often done
DURING THE MOVE-IN DATE.
Where, they would jump over
the stove (without getting
hurt) into the house.
THE RELIGIOUS INCLINED
Many of those who are taoists,
often pray to all the gods at
the four corners of their new
home. And they offer, incense,
burn joss paper etc...
This therefore depends on your
religious inclinations.
If one is a free thinker
etc... skip this step.
VARIOUS CHINESE DIALECT GROUP
As mentioned above, there are
so many separate Chinese
dialect groups.
But as I had mentioned
earlier, if we can focus on
the "process" they are:
1. Each dialect group likes to
bring in something that
"sounds-like" - prosperity,
bring them good luck, raise,
promotion or "gold" into their
home.
2. The throwing-in is symbolic
of throwing wealth into the
home.
OTHER RACES? *JOKE*
Well, just maybe, the
Americans could perhaps throw
in "potatoes" or sprinkle
"potato chips"; " hot dogs"
etc..
For vegetarians, could bring
in 5 different types of beans,
etc...
When to remove or spring clean
after sprinkling.
It is best not to spring clean
on the same day as one
sprinkle or spread such things
into the home.
Some Chinese simply leave the
pineapple to "split open" and
then throw them away. There
were several cases, where this
seems to be a very expensive
excercise! As these owners
owned marble floors. And the
juice of the pineapple
litterally soak into the
floor.
KNOCKING THE DOOR BEFORE
ENTERING!
To be continued .. in the next
message....
On 10/24/2003 7:15:50 AM, Esther Lim
wrote:
I am a proud owner of a new
flat. I am checking on some
customs or practise before i
enter my flat for the first
time after I have obtain the
keys.
My dad said that for
prosperity, i would need to
put in a Pineapple into the
flat, the first time i visit
the flat with my key. However
i should then just closed the
door and visit it the next day
instead. By doing so, the
pineapple is supposed to bring
prosperity to the flat.
My mum mentioned about
sprinkling salt and rice into
the flat the first time i step
into the place.
I read somewhere that i should
knock the door before entering
any place to ensure my
presence?
Could you advise or show any
sites where customs or good
fengshui practise related to
moving into a flat is
avalible?
I will subsribed to the
Selection of Auspicous Date
service. Can i used the dates
indicated there to plan for my
house FIRST VISIT, ROM,
Marriage, Renovation Start
dates and so on?
THanks for your advise!