New Year’s Superstitions
New Year’s Superstitions and Resolutions
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7 New Years Superstitions – can they bring Good Luck?
New Year resolutions and New Year’s traditions are common and popular among people in both Western and Eastern countries. It is believed that resolutions taken at the stroke of midnight should be followed throughout the New Year to bring positive change in life. Similarly, the things we do on January 1st determines what will happen for the rest of the year. These New Year’s superstitions are endearing beliefs that are supposed to bring good luck in your life.
Here is a brief lowdown on several other popular and some unpopular beliefs and New Year superstitions:
Invite the New Year Carol Singer Inside
It was a practice to invite the first carol singer who comes to your house on the first day morning. The singer must be admitted at the front door, conducted all through the house and let out at the back door. Doing so brings good luck throughout the year. A 1923 recorded belief in Kent says that this first man or boy should have dark complexion. He must ring the front door bell and the door must be opened to him. He must walk through the house and out of the back door without holding conversation with anyone.
Never Take Something Out Before Bringing Something In
On the first day, do not take anything out of the house before any member of the house or any guest brings something in. If the opposite happens, it means that the whole year the house will have dwindling wealth, health and prosperity. In earlier times, members of the house carried a piece of coal inside the house for the purpose of preventing the misfortunes which would otherwise attach to them. It is considered unlucky and dangerous to throw light out of the house or even sweep out the dust. This would mean that the good fortune of the family is swept out of the house.
Be Careful With Money Dealings
Be careful with money
Oh how most of us wish we could pay off all old bills by the end of the year! With house payments, car payments, insurance payments, utility payments, and on and on, our payments seem to never be paid off.
Don’t Speak Ill about the Past Year
Don’t think about the year gone by or speak ill about the passing year in the New Year as it is believed to be unlucky for doing so because the negativity of the past year can come to haunt the current year. What this implies is let the bygone be bygones and start everything afresh.
A New Born Is Extremely Lucky
January 1st Baby - Good Luck for Life
Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate!
Do you know why there is so much of merrymaking on 31st December, the last night of the year? Yes, we like to ring in the New Year with celebrations of the coming New Year, but some Catholics believe on New Year’s Eve, evil spirits and their attendants lurk around the corner to harm people. Those spirits hate loud noise and din, therefore, the Churches ring the bells exactly at midnight to scare the evil spirits away. So let your hair down and celebrate and make merry!
Kissing at Midnight
Kissing at Midnight for New Year's Luck
These and several other New Year ‘lucky’ and ‘unlucky’ beliefs exist, especially in the Western countries. They are made for the advantage of the people so there is no harm in actually following them. If you notice carefully, we follow some of the beliefs diligently, even though unknowingly.
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
~ Bill Vaughan
New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday.
~ Charles Lamb
Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.
~ Bill Vaughan
Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
~ Hal Borland
Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
~ Oprah Winfrey
New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.
~ Mark Twain
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.
~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce
If you know of any new years day traditions or superstitions for new years we should know about or that we could incorporate into another article or add to this site please let us know.
Copyright © 2012 SuperstitionLane.com
Questions on getting my wishes to come true
Susan asks…
I am having really bad luck and need help getting my wishes to come true?
am going into seventh grade, and I had really bad luck in my sixth grade year,I was bullied and they make fun of me on the bus, and I spent almost all my savings on a flute, and It sounds awful, or is silent, and I embarrassed myself at band auditions, and I would like to find a way to grant these wishes? I am open to magical or non magical solutions, as I really need these wishes to come true? Please give me detailed instructions on how to make each wish come true?
Wish 1: I wish I could fly in a hot air balloon: Who doesn’t
Wish 2: I wish I could go to Kansas: I want to see the yellow brick road and the land of oz
Wish 3: I wish I could go to Iowa: I want to see the corn
Wish 4: I wish I could go to Tennessee: Ive always wanted to go there
Wish 5: I wish I could have a time machine: So I don’t have to read the dumb history book, and so I can change the past and have almost unlimited power. I also want to make it so that the principal was never born and attend the meetings where summer vacation was decided and add two extra months, and alter the timeline by going back to the birth of Christ to move Christmas to July
Wish 6: I wish I had a bulldozer: So I don’t have to ride the bus, and can outrun that damn buss
Wish 7: I wish I had a dragon: To torch the bullies
Wish 8: I wish I had a tiger: To attack bullies and be a nice cuddly pet
Wish 9: I wish my pet rabbit would come back to life: I miss my bunny, and I tried taking the rabbit to the kid next door who Is like Dr. Frankenstein, and I paid him $25.00 to have the rabbit reanimated, he is still dead, and I have read about alchemy, and I have the bunny in the cryonic suspension (kitchen freezer) until I can figure out the formula for the elixir of life, alchemical advise please
Wish 10: I wish I could play the flute: So I can join the f-ing band, my flute I spent all my savings on doesn’t work at all and when I tried to audition for the band I sounded awful.
Wish 11: I wish I could sail on a pirate ship: To see the Caribbean, I really want to see the Caribbean area, and I have watched the pirate movies, and just want to sail around the Caribbean.
Wish 12: I wish I was the most popular girl in school: So people stop laughing at me
Wish 13: I wish I had Frodo’s ring: Unlimited power, and It would make me unbeatable in any challenge, so I could win the State Games of America and beat that kid who made fun of me in PE.
Wish 14: I wish Brian would take me to the dance: I love him so much, and want him to be with me all my life. He ignores me and never comes to ask me to anything, he is sooo cute, and I would seriously jump into 40 degree water if that would make him like me, anything to make him like me
Wish 15: I wish I had a race horse: So I could compete in the Kentucky derby, the cost about a million bucks and my parents cant afford one right now, but I really want one.
Wish 16: I wish I could win a gold medal in the state games of America: All the best athletes compete there representing every state in the union, but I cant even make the Junior High teams. I really want to march in the parade, and take part in the pomp and circumstance or the medal ceremony, and beat those rats who made fun of me in PE
Wish 17: I wish I could sing better: To impress Brian, I cant sing worth a crap, and I really want to impress him, and I know he likes girls who can sing really good.
What kind of wand or spell do I need to make these wishes come true, and I need help now, and my parents don’t want to grant my travel wishes to avoid spoiling me?
Suzi Q answers:
Maybe if you wish for something more realistic you might not have such a bad year
Laura asks…
What’s the big deal about the new year?
Doesn’t really make sense to me why people regard it with so much enthusiasm, but then again, most of folk superstition doesn’t really make much sense to me except that which was obviously implanted via commercialism.
So, what’s the big deal? It’s just another day, that won’t happen again just like any other day, the calendar is a largely arbitrary system (We could have the new year at any day of the year and it’d be just as valid). No one celebrates the end/beginning of every month that I know of, so calendar changes aren’t a big deal to most… While I’m all for celebrating change, that happens every day, and there’s nothing particularly special about the new year. Is it just an excuse to get drunk and make out at a particular time, or what?…
Suzi Q answers:
All people are daft. They need to feel some days are special. That’s why the slave holiday of sunday was first instituted.
Happy New Year.
Ruth asks…
How many of yall gonna have some black-eyed peas and rice and some collard greens along with some pig’s feet?
or some other pork meat on New Year‘s Day for luck, money, and prosperity as the superstition goes?
I am! We got the pig’s feet and collards cooking now! I can’t afford to take any chances on the superstition NOT being true.
Oh yeah…………………HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Suzi Q answers:
Sounds like you are in the southern part of the U.S. Enjoy your feast and Happy New Year.
Sharon asks…
What type of foods do americans eat on new years, as a symbol of good luck, or something like that..?
Suzi Q answers:
Blackeyed peas- good luck
Greens- prosperity
This is what we eat New Years Day
Champagne and watch the ball drop New Years Eve
More Questions about New Year’s Superstitions
Joseph asks…
New Year’s Eve or Day Traditions and Superstitions – which one you chose?
1. Black-eyed peas and lentils eaten on New Year’s Day are said to bring riches and safety to the coming year
2. Wear red underwear on New Year’s Eve to bring luck
3. On New Year’s Eve Every door and window should be left open at midnight on to let the old year out
4. Make lots of noise at the stroke of midnight. Evil spirits attempt to come into the brand new year at this time – horns and whistles chase them away
5. On New Year’s eve Dancing around a tree (especially outside) ensures luck, love, and prosperity.
6. Kissing your spouse or significant other at midnight ensures that you will remain intimate with that person. To not kiss means a cold relationship for the year
7. A woman shouldn’t speak until a man says “Happy New Year.”
8. Any baby born on New Year’s Day has good luck the rest of his/her life. The baby also brings good luck to the family
9. Nothing goes out – not even the garbage. The flip version of this rule is that nothing goes out until something new comes in
10.Eating pork on New Year’s Day is lucky because pigs eat moving forward. Therefore, those who eat pork will move forward in the coming year.
11. fill in the blank
Suzi Q answers:
…interesting…how does one keep up with all of those…..
I am not the superstitious type and the only traditions I have on New Years is nursing my hangover, watching football, grubbing on some chow, and planning my attack of the next 12 months……
Sandra asks…
NEW YEARS SUPERSTITIONS’ New Year is a time of beginning and thus something which, according to lore, needs
to be influenced favourably to ensure a good outcome.
Its bad luck to let a fire go out on New Year’s Eve.
You could ensure yourself good fortune by draining the last dregs from a bottle of drink on New Years!
To dance in the open air, especially round a tree, on New Year’s Day is declared to ensure luck in love and prosperity and freedom from ill health during the coming twelve months.
On New Year’s Day if, on rising, a girl should look out of her bedroom window and see a man passing by, she may reckon to be married before the year is finished.
Avoid crying on the first day of the year lest that activity set the tone for the next twelve months
Just as the clock strikes twelve the head of the house should open the door in order to allow the Old Year to pass out and the New Year to come in. The first person to enter your home after the stroke of midnight will influence the year you’re about to have. This tradition is called First Footing. Ideally, he should be dark-haired, tall, and good-looking, and it would be even better if he came bearing certain small gifts such as a lump of coal, a silver coin, a bit of bread, a sprig of evergreen, and some salt.
The eating of black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day will attract both general good luck and money in particular.
Do not do the laundry on New Year’s Day, lest a member of the family be ‘washed away’ (die) in the upcoming months.
Wear something new on January 1 to increase the likelihood of your receiving more new garments during the year to follow.
Avoid crying on the first day of the year lest that activity set the tone for the next twelve months.
Make as much noise as possible at midnight. You’re not just celebrating; you’re scaring away evil spirits. (Church bells are rung on a couple’s wedding day for the same reason.)
Babies born on this day will always have luck on their side.
Wish you all a Happy and prosperous New Year for 2007..
Suzi Q answers:
A good collection Skycat. My Gran’s fav: Burn the Christmas tree on New Year’s day to burn away all the bad luck of the old year, and bring open the way for the new.
–That Cheeky Lad
Ruth asks…
What superstitions do you have about the night between years?
In my country we must have money under the carpets and in our pockets (so that we will have money all year long), wear something red (good for your love life), make a wish at midnight because they come true and make sure that the first person that enters in our house in the new year is a man (women are supposed to bring bad luck). I’m curious what other people do in the night between years to make sure that the new year will be a good one!
Suzi Q answers:
In my country Chinese parent use to put some money into a red pocket and place it beneath the pillow of their children at the night before chinese new years,(will have good luck all the year long)we have to open the red pocket after a month.
Sharon asks…
Any New Year superstitions?
every new year’s eve i wear red underwear. supposedly it brings good luck with your boyfriend/husband/love.
Suzi Q answers:
Eat black eyed peas AND for some reason I like to start off the new year in the middle of a good push-up, i don’t know exactly why but for some reason it gives me more optimism in thinking that I’ll improve more as an athlete in the upcoming year.
-also, gotta make sure all laundry is washed and dried, same with dishes
Lizzie asks…
New Year’s superstition?
I read online that your not supposed to leave the house on New Year’s Day. But, my mom told me that we’ll be leaving a couple minutes after midnight. I’m very superstitious and i dont want to have another bad year. thnx 😀
Suzi Q answers:
I think you will have a great year weather you leave the house or not.
Nancy asks…
what are the meanings of colors you wear on new year’s?
can you please list the colors and color meanings and other superstitions you know of for new year’s eve
thanx
Suzi Q answers:
Never heard of this before. Has to be superstition.
Betty asks…
If you spend new year’s eve countdown with a significant other, is that the one you’ll be with all year?
New Year’s eve superstition
Suzi Q answers:
It would be nice to believe that but I know that it doesn’t always happen. A friend of mine shared a few new years with her significiant other and I think in february he broke it off.
So I can say that although we wish it was so, it is a superstition.
David asks…
How did the superstition of kissing at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve start?
Suzi Q answers:
I think it is a tradition, not a superstition. It is a fresh start to a New Year, and you kiss the one that will carry over into that year. So, in the area of romance, it is a clean slate. “May old aquantince be forgot and never brought to mind,” etc. Therein the kiss carries the person you with with you, so as not to be forgotten.
Thomas asks…
Have you heard the superstition, Eat pork ,on New Year’s day for a prosperous year?
Who will be eating pork?
Suzi Q answers:
Yes my mother used to make pork roast and sauerkraut for New Years day every year I don’t know it was some family tradition but the pork was for prosperity and not sure about the sauerkraut. I am having left over pork chops tonight
Joseph asks…
New Year’s traditions and Folklore?
Do you know of any traditions and folklore that are not so common? Any superstitions or practices to do tomorrow night? What different kinds of things do people do around the world and from different cultures?
Suzi Q answers:
Our first meal of the year has to be, black-eyed peas and corn bread. We bang the frying pan, and any other pan, to scare last years spirits away.
If we did something in the last year that we want to get shut of we eat a raw Jalapeno Chili (pepper.)
we drink beer before midnight and Champagne after so will get more and better in the new year.
We take 3 aspirin before we go to bed to soften the first hangover of the new year.
Daniel asks…
Do you do laundry between Christmas and New Year’s Eve…?
… or do you fall for the old superstition that someone in your family is going to die if you do so?
I grew up with this kind of customs and even when I have had a household of my own I respected this thought for years, but today I don’t care anymore.
What about you? Did you ever heard of this superstition, or do you even believe in it?
Thank you and have a very Merry Christmas!
Suzi Q answers:
No, the only thing I’ve heard of that is somewhat similar to this is that you have to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s Day. It’ said you’ll come into some money the following year. Some people even cook a coin with their peas, a dime or something. If you get the dime, you’ll be the lucky one. Although I don’t go THAT far with it, I do still try and eat some black eyed peas each year.
Jenny asks…
Does anyone else not wash clothes on New Years Day?
This is a very strange superstition that I hadn’t heard of until I met my husband! His family would NEVER do any clothes washing on New Year’s day through fear of someone in the family dying that year. The superstition goes ‘ If you wash on New Years day, you’ll wash a member of the family away!’
hahahahaha! I love the answers so far!
I had always washed and no-one had ever died! Just wondered how common a superstition it was!
Suzi Q answers:
I’ve never heard this one before. I have washed clothes on New Years Day and no one has been washed away yet. Probably not many people would do washing on New Year because of a hang over?
Sandra asks…
Do you do laundry between Christmas and New Year’s Even… ?
… or do you fall for the old superstition that someone in your family is going to die if you do so?
I grew up with this kind of customs and even when I have had a household of my own I respected this thought for years, but today I don’t care anymore.
What about you? Did you ever heard of this superstition, or do you even believe in it?
Thank you and have a very Merry Christmas!
Suzi Q answers:
Never heard of it. I have two kids a dog, cat and husband I have no choice but to do laundry on those days.
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