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For Chinese people, Wednesday is the day to have their very first haircut in the year of the snake.
Wednesday is the second day of the second lunar month in the traditional calendar, known in Chinese as Er Yue Er, "a time for the dragon to raise its head," as a Chinese saying goes.
Barber shops across the country opened early on one of their busiest days of the year, as many people have strictly observed the "no haircut" tradition throughout the past month of lunar new year celebrations.
Many Chinese hold the superstitious belief that getting a haircut at a time when the "dragon raises its head" means they will have a vigorous start to the new year. If a person has a haircut during the first month of the lunar year, however, a maternal uncle will die.
As a result, barber shops stay open for almost 18 hours a day in the pre-Lunar New Year rush for haircuts.
While women like to spruce up for the holiday, even men like a trim before the new year begins in case their hair grows too long before they are supposed to be at the barber's again.
The "no haircut" legend goes that a poor, parentless barber loved his only blood relation -- a maternal uncle -- dearly but could not afford a decent new year's gift for him. He gave his uncle a haircut that made the old man look years younger. His uncle said it was the best gift he had ever received and wished to get a haircut every year from his nephew.
After his uncle died, the barber missed him and cried every new year. Over the years, "thinking of his uncle" (si jiu) was interpreted as "death of uncle" because in Chinese their pronunciations are almost the same.
Specialists on traditional culture and folklore believe the lucky haircut tradition comes from the Chinese's worship of the dragon, as people believe it symbolizes luck.
"On the second day of the second lunar month, seven of the 28 constellations known to ancient Chinese people formed a dragon," said Wang Laihua, a Tianjin-based specialist on traditional Chinese culture.
The time was auspicious also because the weather would be getting warmer and peasants were ready for spring ploughing, he said.
Meanwhile, the date was also a time for married daughters to visit their parents.
"In the past, a married daughter should not visit her parents in the first lunar month. Even if she did, she must leave before dark," Wang said. "This was because there was a superstitious belief that 'if a married woman stayed in her parents' house until dark, her father-in-law would die.'"
Today, this superstition is ignored by most women but the date remains special.
