Among Friends

[Group 5 minus 1]

A dark haired man must be the first person in your house on 1/1. He must carry a piece of coal and some silver. ( Daddy had him bring in a dime.)

Pork and sauerkraut for the New Year meal.

Daddy was Irish and we had soooo many.

[proudlyfromNJ]

My father's Grandparents came over from Ireland, but he never had that I saw any superstitions. Neither did my Mom although she was not Irish.

[cherry]

Avoid a chill. Kiss your

significant other at the stroke of midnight, or you will set the stage for a year of coldness!!

2. Stock up. Cupboards must be full and plenty of money placed in every wallet to guarantee prosperity in the new year.

3. Wear new clothes. Wearing new clothes on January 1 increases the likelihood of receiving more new garments during the following year.

4. Avoid breaking things. If you don't, wreckage might be part of your year.

5. Let the old year out. At midnight,

all the doors must be opened to let

the old year escape unimpeded. (This custom must have begun in a more temperate climate than Michigan.)

6. Eat black-eyed peas. Eating them will attract general good luck to the one doing the dining. In an effort to ensure good luck for all our guests, we will be serving a side dish of black-eyed peas to all of our diners on New Year's Day. They're flavored with pork hocks (another lucky food) and collard greens.

7. Examine the weather in the early hours of New Year's Day. If the wind blows from the south, there will be fine weather and prosperous times in the year ahead. If it comes from the north, it will be a year of bad weather. Wind blowing from the east brings famine and calamities. If the wind blows from the west, the year will witness plentiful supplies of milk and fish. If there's no wind at all, a joyful and prosperous year may be expected by all.   

[gidgetgh]

I make sure that we always eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day. 

I burn a bayberry candle (taper) from start to finish on New Year’s Day also. (A bayberry candle burned to the socket brings health to the home and wealth to the pocket.). 

And, on the first day of every month, not just New Year’s Day, I say rabbit rabbit as soon as I wake up. If you say it on the first day of the month, you’re supposed to have good luck for the rest of the month. I’ve been saying it, without fail, since second grade!

[Oznell]

Oh, thanks @Group 5 minus 1.  I was trying to remember that "dark haired man" one over on @cherry's thread.  They have that in Scotland, too.

[RedTop]

I grew up with no superstitions or traditions about New Years Day.   We were still eating ham and other leftovers from Christmas, along with a pot of pinto beans.   

[Pandalady]

According to my granny, she would never wash clothes on New Year's Day or you would be washing for "sickness" for the rest of the year or even have a loved one "washed away" in the new year.  Either way, laundry can wait until the 2nd. 

[lrmuffin]

@Pandalady, my mom is from Germany and I was told the same thing.  No washing or especially hanging to dry clothes on New Year's Eve to the day.  She went so far as to take the clothes line down. 

[LurkyLoo]

@lrmuffin and @Pandalady my grandmother of Moravia held to the no laundry rule, too- including ironing. And in those days, EVERYTHING was ironed, including bed and table linens. 

The pork and sauerkraut was another.. and somehow the blackeyed peas entered into the dinner, too. Usually with stewed tomatoes. 

I don't have a dark-haired man on hand to enter my door first.. unless I solicite a neighbor to come bearing a silver fork. Guess I better get busy cooking something for him! 😜 

Happy New Year to you all! ⭐️

[Hooty]

Being from the South, we have many, but no Southerner starts off the New Year without Blackeyed Peas, (good luck) a Southern tradition I have had all my life, and will continue!