CHINESE BELIEFS ABOUT BROOMS

Many superstitions abound in Chinese culture about brooms, mainly because most Chinese use brooms as their main method to clean their homes. However, the Chinese strongly believe that the use of brooms should only be for cleaning the house, shop etc. Traditional Chinese culture holds that a broom is inhabited by a spirit, thus explaining why it should not be used for games, playing etc. The broom should not be used for cleaning the household gods or altar as this is disrespectful. These objects are cleaned with a cloth or a special small brush. During the Spring Festival (now commonly known as Lunar New Year), Chinese custom prohibits the use of the broom for three days from New Year’s Day, as it is thought that use of it will sweep away the good luck and good fortunes the New Year brings. Beating a person with a broom will rain bad luck upon the receiver for years. The curse can however be lifted by rubbing the part of the body hit several times. The broom should never touch the head: this will lead to very bad luck. In gambling, the spirit in the broom is sometimes invoked by ‘threatening’ it until luck in gambling ensues. The broom is also sometimes used in temple rituals. Here, the person’s whole body is swept with the broom in front of the deities and the broom then beaten. The function of this is to cleanse the body of bad luck.
SOURCE: http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01351/charms.htm