Nearly a month after the Western world rings in a new year, the Chinese New Year begins, part of the week-long Spring Festival that takes place at the end of January. This year the festival runs from January 27 through February 2, 2017, and the Chinese New Year falls on January 28, ushering in a Year of the Rooster. Throughout China, Images of red roosters—one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac—will appear. People will flock to temples to pray amid the snapping of firecrackers marking the end of 2016.

Numerous superstitions and surround Chinese New Year. Chinese people believe that cleaning on the first and second day of the new year and washing your hair on the first day will bring bad luck. Because crying children are also viewed as unlucky, kids are given whatever they want (within reason) to keep them satisfied. Praying in temples and wearing red underwear, on the other hand, are practices believed to bring good fortune.

Chinese New Year gift giving must align with several rules of etiquette, most of which have to do with luck. Never give a gift that is black or white, as these colors are associated with death. Gifts should be given in private to avoid an appearance of favoritism, and it’s a good idea to bring gifts in pairs, as items in groups of two are viewed as lucky. If you receive a gift, it is considered rude to open it in front of the person who gave it to you.

A good rule of thumb is to stick with something red. In China, red represents happiness, energy and good fortune. The most common gift is money given in red packets to children and the elderly. The money must be crisp, not wrinkled, and should not be given to working adults except by employers. The red packaging, called yasui qian or “suppressing ghosts money,” is believed to keep the gift’s recipient safe throughout the year. This practice stemmed from a Chinese legend about a sea monster named Nian who threatened villagers on the Chinese New Year.

Fearful of being eaten by Nian, the villagers fled to the mountains each year until an old traveler arrived in the village, promising to scare the monster away. He pasted red papers on his door, wore red clothing and burned bamboo to make loud, threatening popping sounds. The old man successfully repelled Nian, and the villagers repeated his practices from that year forward.