Ivy and Elephants: New Year's Traditions

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

New Year's Traditions

What's It Wednesday #197

Hello All!

I hope you had a happy and blessed Christmas and are ready to turn the page towards 2016. To make sure you have a most prosperous New Year here are a few tips to get you started.

First make sure your home is clean from top to bottom, it symbolizes the ridding of evil spirits and a fresh start to the New Year. My mother always swept and mopped the whole house and threw the water out the front door cleaning out the old year. She always bought a new broom to start the year, "Nothing sweeps clean like a new broom!"

Now comes the most important part, the food. Pork is the meat of choice. Why? Pigs root forward, signifying progress, unlike chickens or turkeys which scratch backward. I usually serve ham.

For sides, you must serve greens (they represent money) and black-eyed peas (or Hoppin' John) for good luck. My mom always put a dime in for extra luck for the person who found it. (No, no one even swallowed it!) You should eat 365 peas, one for good luck each day of the New Year.

End the meal with something sweet, for a sweet new year. Mama always made a fresh coconut cake, yum!

Make sure your decor shines with pops of silver and gold they represent fortune and wealth

or red for luck in love.

While the champagne chills, (very auspicious for toasting the New Year) dress in your “new” (very important) finery, even down to underwear which should be yellow (like gold) for prosperity in your personal finances or red if you want to find a soulmate or have an amorous year. Be sure to carry a stash of money in your person to ensure economic success.

As the clock approaches midnight, be sure to have your grapes ready. Twelve exactly for each stroke of the clock representing good fortune each month of the new year, (add one more for extra luck) but remember, they must be eaten by the last chime!

Then, the kiss. Be careful, it’s the one you’ll spend the new year with! Followed by the singing of Auld Lang Syne, clinking flutes of champagne and toasts for the New Year almost drowned out by the shouts, noise makers, car horns, and fireworks (all to drive away the evil spirits!)

The 1^st day of the New Year is symptomatic of the next 364. People try to spend it in the best possible way, in the company of friends and family. But, if the doorbell rings and your first visitor is a tall dark-haired man, welcome him in. It’s another good luck omen!