of spring cleaning & traditions

been doing my spring cleaning over the last 5 days. thus far, i have done 80% of the house. i still have my room to do. i think this is the longest time i've taken for spring cleaning. but frankly, i think i am doing more than just spring cleaning. apart from cleaning every little corners and crevices, and the content of my cabinets, storeroom, etc, i am also taking the opportunity to do a bit of self-renovation. for example, i am revarnishing my kitchen door frame this year! several years back, there were some stains and marks on the door frame and i painted a layer of brown paint over. this, too, has been stained over time and is starting to show signs of peeling. and so, i decided i shall revarnish the whole door frame again. not an easy task. lots of preparation before varnishing. need to clean, sand-paper off the paint and old varnish, dry, etc. and today, i've managed to finish only one side of the door frame. will try to complete the whole frame by this sat before applying a new coat of varnish. i am sure it would look brand new! it's always a good opportunity to redo all these woodwork and stuff when spring cleaning. yup, it's tiring, but it's satisfying. once i've done the door frame and my bedroom, i'll wash the floor of the house and i'm done! am giving myself up to this sunday to complete everything cos it'll be 24th day of the last lunar month this coming sunday. traditionally, this would also be the day where my mum sent the gods back to heaven. and once that is done, she would hang up the red banner (ang chai). i do not have any altars in my house and thus i do not observe such practises. but i would observe this deadline and also hang the ang chai once i complete my spring cleaning. it is a good deadline to observe cos it allows me one week to do other lunar new year preparations. these were some of the many small things that my mum practised as part of the family tradition. and i do believe, these were the very same things that her parents, and her parents' parents used to do. many of these practises has taoist underpinnings and origins. but i can see many good in them. good points that are not necessarily related to any religious reasons and i would very much like to continue these practises. also, i strongly believe that in practising such little things, it allows me to reconnect with my forefathers in a way that i can never imagine i could. these practises define me as a member of my family. and it defines me as a chinese. :-)