Dear cecil,
I read somewhere that the chinese people give lot of importance to the container in which they store the rice and consider it bad luck if it gets empty. Is it true. Why so much emphasis is given to rice urn. Thanks.

Dear Anon,
For a better understanding of the importance of the rice urn, we can look at `moving into a new house':-
1. For Chinese who follow traditional practises, rice is one of the items that are brought in during the symbolic move-in to a new home.
2. Some of the customs of moving into a house varies with the Chinese.
3. This is one of the `type of' ceremony when one moves into the house:-
3.1. Prior to moving into a new home, an auspicious date and time is first chosen.
3.2. On the day of the move:
3.2.1. The owner opens the main door.
In some instances, a pineapple is rolled into the house. (A pineapple, e.g. to the Hokkien (Chinese Dialect group) represents "ONG" or to prosper.
A lighted charcoal stove is next brought into the home and placed at the centre-point of the house. This symbolises, warmth in the home.
A bag of RICE, sugar and salt is next brought in.
Since RICE is a stable food of the Chinese, the significance is that a full packet of rice symbolically represent abundance of food (rice).
Following this, it is true that many Chinese belief that it would be best not to have an empty rice urn. At least when it goes down to 1/4 full, try to replenish it as soon as possible.
I shall not go on with the rest of the `moving-in' ceremony but to highlight just this portion of the `rice urn'.
Warmest Regards,
Cecil

Quote

On 1/22/01 1:05:00 PM, Anonymous wrote:
Dear cecil,
I read somewhere that the
chinese people give lot of
importance to the container in
which they store the rice and
consider it bad luck if it
gets empty. Is it true. Why so
much emphasis is given to rice
urn. Thanks.

The Russian culture also has a similar tradition: As soon as the couple is married the families greet them with bread, salt and an icon. It is considered bad luck not to have any bread in the house.