大年初六千家送穷鬼

今天是农历正月初六。

根据传统习俗，家里通常要在这一天送走穷鬼。

通过做这些，中国人希望能送走贫穷并且在新的一年迎来幸福和好运。

根据传说，几千年前穷鬼是一个皇帝的儿子。他矮小而又瘦弱，并且喜欢穿破烂的衣服，喝稀饭。

即使人们送给他新衣服，他也要扯破后才穿。因此，随着时间推移，他被称为了穷子，渐渐地就变成了穷鬼。

为了送走穷鬼，人们通常会将自己的破衣服、垃圾和其他脏东西扔掉。

这一做法也是为了清洁。

就新年的前五天来说，人们不允许扔掉任何垃圾因为垃圾被视为财富不能被清扫掉。

然而在破五之后，许多禁忌就可被打破。

于是，人们最后会再打扫一遍他们的房子。

如今，在大城市中送穷鬼的习俗已经不常见了。

Today is the 6th day of the 1st month in Lunar Calendar.

According to traditional customs, families usually send away the Ghost of Poverty (穷鬼, qiong gui) on this day.

By doing this, Chinese people wish to send sway poverty and welcome the beautiful days and good luck in the new year.

According to the legend, the ghost of poverty is a son of an emperor thousands years ago. He was short and weak, and liked wearing ragged clothes and eating poor porridge.

Even when people presented him with new clothes, he would not wear it until he ripped it apart. So, he got the name of ‘the man of poverty (穷子, qiong zi) with time passing by, he gradually became the ghost of poverty.

To send away the Ghost of Poverty, Chinese people will usually throw away their ragged clothes, rubbish and other dirty things.

This practice also has its hygienic reason.

As for the first five days of Chinese new year, people are not allowed to throw away any rubbish because the rubbish is regarded as fortune which cannot be swept off.

However, after the Festival of Po Wu (破五, po wu), many taboos can be broken.

Thus, people finally can clean up their houses again.

Nowadays, the custom of sending away the Ghost of Poverty is not common in big cities.