Many of the bright colors, tantalizing smells and delicious flavors of Chinese New Year have their roots in good fortune. Here’s a look at some customs, practices and standard fare found in Chinese-American homes, as well as a look at the symbolism and how these customs are practiced now.

The lion, in Chinese tradition, is a friendly, domestic beast who brings human blessings, peace and prosperity. You entice it to your house with "herbs" and feed it li see, or money in red envelopes. "Lions, like firecrackers, bolster the element of yang, to bring light and sound," says Chinese cultural historian Douglas Chong.

Symbolism: Depends on the region and the tradition followed. The lion itself goes back to the days of animism. In Hawai'i, there have been many Chinese traditions blending together, with Daoist rituals bringing the lion "to life" by using the blood from a rooster, usually taken from his comb.

Lion dancing troupe leader Harlan Lee's newest lion heads came from Malaysia via Hong Kong, and were taken to a Buddhist temple in Palolo to be blessed, not with rooster blood, but with ge sah, an inedible red paste, put on its eyes. His sifu (teacher), H.T. Siow, revolutionized lion head making, said Lee, using rattan and aluminum in lieu of bamboo, "so the head is light, yet strong."

Don't mistake a lion dance for a dragon dance: The latter requires more people and is reserved for blessings of a much higher scale, such as world peace.

How it's practiced now: Lion dances are found throughout the world, anywhere Chinese have gone, using traditional and even modern flourishes. There are even all-girl lion dancing troupes.

Many of the bright colors, tantalizing smells and delicious flavors of Chinese New Year have their roots in good fortune. Here's a look at some customs, practices and standard fare found in Chinese-American homes, as well as a look at the symbolism and how these customs are practiced now.

THEY STICK TOGETHER

Some food is eaten for ceremony, some for luck, some for pleasure.

Symbolism: When Diana Harada thinks about growing up in a Chinese family, she remembers cleaning the house, serving her elders tea with a piece of sugar candy in it, and, mostly, making gao (steamed mochi rice) and jai (monk's food) and eating gin doi, those round doughnutlike pastries. Gao is made with mochi flour, which makes it sticky, symbolizing family cohesion. The sesame seeds on top? Fertility. Jai, the vegetarian food served to monks and to the family on the first of the new year, symbolizes purity, starting out the new year with a pure heart.

How it's practiced now: While many Chinese-Americans buy their gao in Chinatown, Harada does it the old-fashioned, five-hour way: mixing it to the proper texture ("I can't tell you, it's by feel"), then steaming it for hours in old Almond Rocha cans. "I like Dansk cookie cans, too," she confides. Her jai uses at least a dozen ingredients, though some traditional jai can have as many as 108.

"There's no right way to make a fruitcake," joked cultural historian Douglas Chong.

"You also eat jai on other religious occasions," he said. "The paradox is, although the symbolism is for purity, many of its ingredients are deeply symbolic in materialistic ways."

Golden needles bring about the idea of gold; the Cantonese words for black moss seaweed, "fat choi," are homonyms for wealth (and sound a lot like "fat choy") and fungus is symbolic of longevity.

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

Customs, again, are varied by region. They range from housecleaning, readying the family altar and giving thanks, to serving tea for your elders and having family get-togethers, to name a few.

Symbolism: Ritual cleaning helps to prepare the way for the new year, cleaning out the old to make way for the new. Other practices have specific symbolism.

How it's practiced now: Before a ritual cleaning when the house is "scrubbed until it's nicely cleaned," cultural historian Douglas Chong gives thanks to the gods in a formal ceremony. "At the end of the (lunar) year, in the 12th month, all gods get thanks sent to heaven," he said. "That repays them for their blessings." Good luck red papers are taken down and burned.

On New Year's Eve, the family eats together as a sign of domestic harmony and the younger generation serves tea to the elders, in return being given lucky money with the wish, "May your years keep coming." Chong also puts tangerines and lucky money in his refilled rice bin, where people store rice in China, "meaning it will always be filled." And oranges and li see are placed on the bed, so he sleeps well. These are offerings to the bed gods; there are also offerings to other gods around the house, such as the kitchen god and outside the main door.