A hairdresser cuts hair for a child at a children hairdressing shop in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 26, 2009. The day is the second day of the second month according to the lunar calender. It is believed in China that cutting hair on the day will bring good luck.

Barber shops across China saw one of their busiest days of the year Thursday, the Dragon-Head-Raising Festival according to the lunar calendar, when Chinese believe a haircut will bring good luck.

At 6 p.m., in Silian Salon, a Beijing barbershop founded half a century ago, more than 50 people were waiting in chairs, holding numbered cards to show their place in the queue.

"We have received more than 400 customers since 7:30 this morning, and I don't think our 30 barbers will have any rest," said manager Wu Xiumin.

At the same time, Abiao Salon on Middle Street, a downtown commercial street in northeast China's Shenyang City, became so crowded with customers that the clerks had to add two barber chairs out in the street.

"I went to nine shops before finding a vacancy here, and I had to wait two hours before my turn," said a woman surnamed Zhang.

In several provinces, the tradition holds that the second day of the second month of the lunar calendar is Dragon Head Raising Festival, on which a dragon-shaped constellation starts rising from the horizon. It signals the start of ample rain for spring crops and is considered an auspicious day to have a haircut.

Haircuts are also discouraged in the first lunar month because they might bring bad luck to one's uncles.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2009)