New Year's Traditions

POMEGRANATE (Photo:Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons)

For many, the first meal of the new year is a very important one while for others there are a variety of traditions. They  generate wishes for the new year to bring hope, riches, and travel. Or they may be just a celebration of light at this seasonal time of year.

PORK & SAUERKRAUT

A Pennsylvania Dutch tradition is pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day to have good luck and growth in the new year. Pigs (pork) represent progress and forward movement as they root forward unlike other animals who scratch backward. Sauerkraut, made from round, green cabbage, may represent money while the long pieces of sauerkraut suggest a long life.

FIREWORKS & OLIEBOLLEN

In the Netherlands, like almost everywhere across the world, fireworks and explosions are a highlight. There is a traditional treat, oliebollen, that mimics the Faschnacts that show up on Shrove Tuesday in Pennsylvania. These are “oil cakes” or small bite-sized fried dough balls dipped in powdered sugar. 

BLACK-EYED PEAS & COLLARDS

A U.S. Southern tradition, eating black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year's Day, will bring good luck and prosperity.  The peas carry good luck  while the collards, being green, may bring money.  One tradition common in the United States is that each person at the meal should leave three peas on their plate to ensure that the New Year will be filled with luck, fortune and romance.

Hoppin' John is a recipe that features black-eyed peas, and is now a favorite staple of Southern food. If, after the New Year's Day meal, you have leftovers they are called Skippin' Jenny.

GRAPES

In Spain eating 12 grapes during the last minutes before the New Year begins brings good luck. Eat one on each of the chimes at midnight.

ONIONS, POMEGRANATES & CAKE

In Greece hanging an onion outside the door signals prosperity, good luck, abundance, and rebirth. On New Year’s Day, parents may wake children by tapping them on the head with the onion. Breaking a pomegranate also brings luck, the more scattered seeds, the more prosperity.

Another customary Greek tradition is consuming Vasilopita, or Saint Basil’s cake. This cake is baked with a silver or gold coin inside, and whoever finds the coin in their slice is considered especially lucky in the coming year.

SMUDGING

The word smudge comes from the Middle English word smogen -to smother with smoke. For thousands of years, recorded back to the days of the pharaohs in Egypt, smoke from burning materials has been used for a variety of spiritual, ceremonial, medicinal purposes, and cleansing. During the rise of the New Age culture during the 1970's and '80's, the Native American practice of smudging was appropriated for various uses and celebrations. Smudging a space, usually a home, on New Year’s Day is thought to cleanse the area of any bad spirits and negativity and prepare a place for the new year to start fresh. Most often white sage is used but other herbs can be added or used separately.

HOGMANAY & “FIRST- FOOTING”

In Scotland, New Year’s Eve is a big night celebrating the winter solstice as well as the beginning of the new year. There are the usual bonfires, torches, and fireworks.

There are Hogmanay is what we Scots call New Year's Eve - 31 December - the big night that marks the arrival of the new year. Its origins reach back to the celebration of the winter solstice among the Vikings with wild parties in late December.

Many festivals and celebrations include torches and bonfires celebrating the return of seasonal light. At midnight it is traditional to sing “Auld Lang Syne”.  

One of the unique traditions is known as  “first-footing.” The first person to cross the threshold should bring a gift of luck. According to the custom, the first person who crosses the threshold of a person’s home should bring a gift of luck. Traditionally, this gift was a coal for the fire or This was traditionally a piece of coal to wish for warmth but has widened out to include the addition shortbread to wish for food, a silver coin for wealth, and a bit of whiskey for good cheer.  

MISTLETOE

In Ireland, it's customary for single gals to put mistletoe under their pillows on New Year’s Eve to dream of their future husbands. Many cultures have picked up the practice of hanging mistletoe encouraging love and kisses.  

SUITCASES, MONEY & LENTILS

In Columbia, the traditions stand for wishes – for fortune, prosperity, travel and, of course, luck. Partygoers may arrive with empty suitcases looking for the coming year to include travel while others carry money in their pockets to bring prosperity.

Maybe originating in Europe, carrying lentils in your pockets is supposed to symbolize a prosperous new year.

WHITE FLOWERS In Rio de Janeiro, New Year's Eve revellers wear white and throw white flowers into the sea as part of Festa de Iemanjá, the goddess of the sea.

NEW YEAR'S PLANT GIFT

No doubt started by the horticultural industry, giving a plant as a gift is for the New Year may be a living symbol of good tidings and fresh beginnings. It isn’t any one species of plant. The recipient would most likely appreciate something unusual. It should be something that stands apart from the ordinary.

WHAT PLANT WOULD YOU GIVE AS A NEW YEAR GIFT & WHY?

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