‘Learn from our mistake’: Singapore family warns homeowners after pineapple damages floor

SINGAPORE: It’s probably every family’s dream to own a new house, and like anything new, people are especially careful at first in order to keep it in pristine condition.

For one family, however, the brand-spanking-new feeling may not have lasted very long, as their flooring was ruined after the pineapple-rolling ceremony.

Afterwards, digital creator Erica Zhao, who goes by @princessezyt on Instagram, posted a public service announcement so new homeowners won’t make the same mistake they did.

Ms Zhao, her husband, and two of their three children first walked into their new unit only recently. According to a video she posted on June 3, it was “THE home we’ve been looking forward to for years, a space we’ve imagined, planned and patiently waited for. Standing inside today felt surreal, knowing that this long-awaited chapter is finally beginning.”

In the video, it showed the father of the family, Shawn Lee, affixing his signature at the handover signoff, and then the couple and their kids “all ready to huat the house.” He can be seen carrying a pineapple with a red ribbon, while Ms Zhao brought in a plant.

Mr Lee is then seen rolling the pineapple across their marble floor, a ritual meant to symbolise rolling in wealth, luck, and prosperity. 

However, as Ms Zhao wrote in a June 16 post, that “iconic moment” turned out quite differently from what they imagined.

She therefore warned others not to make the same mistake. Because they did not remove the pineapple after the rolling ceremony, but left it on the floor after June 3, the acid in the juice ended up leaving a large and unsightly white stain.

Ms Zhao added in her caption that Singapore’s hot weather is likely to have contributed to the juice from the pineapple leaking out.

“So if you’re planning to do the same housewarming ritual, learn from our mistake! Place the pineapple on a tray or wrap it with a cloth before rolling it around the house. It’s a simple step that could save you from an unnecessary headache later on,” she wrote, adding that her family was “Sharing this little experience so you won’t have to deal with the same issue we did!”

Commenters on her post have been kind, thanking Ms Zhao for sharing this information, as well as saying that the family’s huat is likely to sink deep, with too many blessings to contain. /TISG

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