New year rings in with traditions … superstititions

ALBANY — When New Year’s Day arrives, it brings with it quite a few traditions and superstitions.

For instance, it’s well known in the South that, for good luck and good fortune, certain items should be on the New Year’s Day menu — greens, black-eyed peas and pork, particularly ham hocks or hog jowls. On The Albany Herald’s Facebook page, we asked folks to share some of their New Year’s traditions and superstitions.

“We do the peas, greens, hog jowl, ham and cornbread — not because of superstition but because it’s traditional,” Loyless Harris said.

“Black eyed peas and ham,” Janet Luckie said. “The only way to ring in the new year.”

Jeff Sheffield observed, “You always have to eat some type of greens. Black-eyed peas are the pennies and the greens are the greenbacks.”

“Oh you bet I cook them up,” Patricia Will-Willis added. “I am a former Albany, Georgia girl transplanted to Southern California 24 years now. I shared that with my friends and tried to teach them how to cook them with no luck on their part.”

The traditions associated with the new year arriving have their origins in superstition. One, a belief that all outstanding debt should be paid before the old year ends, is portrayed in one of Charles Dickens’ Christmas stories, “The Chimes.”

While not as well know as “A Christmas Carol,” “The Chimes” deals with poor family man Toby “Trotty” Veck, who earned his nickname because of his haste in making messenger deliveries for the well-to-do in London. In bringing a letter from Alderman Cute to Sir Joseph Bowley, a member of Parliament. Bowley inquires as to whether Trotty has more items:

“You have no bill or demand upon me — my name is Bowley, Sir Joseph Bowley — of any kind from anybody have you?” said Sir Joseph. “If you have, present it, There is a cheque-book by the side of Mr. Fish. I allow nothing to be carried into the New Year. Every description of account is settled in this house at the close of the old one. So that if death was to — to — “

“To cut,” suggested Mr. Fish.

“To sever, sir,” returned Sir Joseph, with great asperity, “the cord of existence — my affairs would be found, I hope, in a state of preparation.”

While insurance, mortgages, car loans and others that can’t be paid off within a year by most people have made that superstition obsolete — or, at least, reduced to smaller personal debts, there are others that have proven to be more dogged.

Kissing a loved one at midnight is not only an expression of affection, but a means for ensuring that ties will not be, as Sir Joseph phrased it, severed within the next 12 months.

Likewise, the idea that nothing should be taken out of the house on New Year’s Day to maintain equilibrium. The proscription even entails the taking out of garbage, though, like the year-end debt clearing, this superstition has been modified in recent years to allow the taking out of something provided something else has been brought in first.

Also bad luck is the sweeping of porches. And don’t even think about washing clothes.

“My grandmother always told us not to wash on New Year’s Day or you would wash away someone in your life,” Peggy Phelps said.

Any cleaning needs to be done before the strike of midnight on New Year’s Eve.

“In my youth,” E.J. Brown noted, “I was taught to thoroughly clean my house of anything offensive before 12 a.m. Jan. 1, or face a new year dealing with these unpleasant occupants.

“My mother was adamant about it!”

Some people have certain foods, such as sardines, that they eat at midnight to greet the new year and to ensure good luck in the coming years. What is eaten varies according to heritage.

“It’s our Cuban tradition — as well as in Spain — to eat 12 grapes after the celebratory toasting,” Yolie Quintero Rivera said, “one for every month of the New Year.

“We also pass a bucket of water around the house and throw it outside on the street after midnight to ‘cleanse the house’ and start the new year fresh.”

Even the firecrackers and other pyrotechnics that you’re likely to see and hear at midnight — despite Georgia’s fireworks laws — come from superstitions, with our ancestors believing the noise scared away evil spirits.

“Anyway,” Will-Willis said, “you don’t go out of the house on New Year’s Day and you start your spring cleaning by taking your tree down. And always put something new up for good luck.”

We checked various sources and found some other superstitions and traditions:

— Stock up: Get the cupboards full before midnight or they could be bare all year long;

— First footing: The first man you let into your house after the start of the new year will have a big influence over you the next 12 months. Just be sure that the first person, preferably a stranger, is not cross-eyed or uni-browed (those should be let out the back door to prevent misfortune). If he has coal, salt, pepper or money on him, it’ll be a prosperous year. Also, the darker his hair the better, because blonds and redheads tend to bring bad luck. If you don’t have any visitors, don’t despair. You can stick a piece of coal in your own pocket and walk through your front door to ensure a lucky year;

— Good at work: Take a small stab at something related to your job to make sure you’re on top of it all year long;

— Wear something new: Donning new clothes on New Year’s Day improves your chances of getting more new clothes during the year;

— Be careful: Break an item on Jan. 1 and your whole year’s likely to be a wreck;

— Open doors: At midnight on New Year’s Eve, open a door (or better yet, every door of the house) to assist the old year in departing;

— Keep the fire burning: If you have your fireplace going New Year’s Eve, keep it burning until daybreak or your luck will turn cold, too;

— Don’t pay debts: If you didn’t pay off your debts in Sir Joseph fashion by Dec. 31, don’t pay them before Jan. 2. And don’t make any New year’s Day loans. They won’t be repaid;

— Have another: If you open a bottle of wine, champagne or another beverage on New year’s Eve or Day, make sure it is completely consumed (though we would add if you’re consuming alcoholic beverages, don’t drive);

— A really happy birthday: If you have a baby on New Year’s Day, your child should thank you since tradition dictates he or she always will have luck on their side.