apoppy
12-31-2007, 09:43 AM
Do you keep any New Year's traditions or superstitions?
I don't think I am a superstitious person in general, but there are certain New Year's activities that I grew up with that I just can't break.
* The first big meal of the year has to have pork and cabbage for good luck, abundance, and wealth. My mom always fixes pork roast and saurkraut at midnight, but I make pork loin and a cabbage salad for lunch on the 1st. (German tradition)
* Nothing can be carried out of the house on Jan. 1 by the family bread-winner, or other wealth-earning members of the family, to ensure that only good things will come in. My mom would go so far as to have our guests take out the trash on Jan. 1! Luckily, it was all in good fun and they didn't care. (German tradition)
* Money should be brought in by any wealth-earning members of the family to ensure a constant flow of cash in the new year. We put envelopes with small amounts of money in them in our (lockable) mailbox on Dec. 31 and then bring them in on the 1st. (I don't know where this came from; it may be an English tradtion)
* It is terribly bad luck for a red-headed man to be the first person to enter your house on the 1st. If you can swing it, you should get a black-haired man to enter first. I have actually demanded that visiting friends enter the house in a certain order for maximum luck. (English tradition)
* New calendars can't be hung until the 1st to keep time from running away from you in the new year. (Who knows where that came from)
Anyone else?
I don't think I am a superstitious person in general, but there are certain New Year's activities that I grew up with that I just can't break.
* The first big meal of the year has to have pork and cabbage for good luck, abundance, and wealth. My mom always fixes pork roast and saurkraut at midnight, but I make pork loin and a cabbage salad for lunch on the 1st. (German tradition)
* Nothing can be carried out of the house on Jan. 1 by the family bread-winner, or other wealth-earning members of the family, to ensure that only good things will come in. My mom would go so far as to have our guests take out the trash on Jan. 1! Luckily, it was all in good fun and they didn't care. (German tradition)
* Money should be brought in by any wealth-earning members of the family to ensure a constant flow of cash in the new year. We put envelopes with small amounts of money in them in our (lockable) mailbox on Dec. 31 and then bring them in on the 1st. (I don't know where this came from; it may be an English tradtion)
* It is terribly bad luck for a red-headed man to be the first person to enter your house on the 1st. If you can swing it, you should get a black-haired man to enter first. I have actually demanded that visiting friends enter the house in a certain order for maximum luck. (English tradition)
* New calendars can't be hung until the 1st to keep time from running away from you in the new year. (Who knows where that came from)
Anyone else?