ALAN FRISWELL: Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!

As if we really needed something like New Years to make an excuse for even more superstitious tripe. But, here it is.......

All the best to everyone for the next twelve months at least.


What to Eat to Bring Good Luck

• Black-eyed peas and lentils eaten on New Year’s Day are said to bring riches and safety to the coming year.
• Eat 12 grapes, one grape for each month of the year, for prosperity.
• 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.
• What to Wear to Bring Good Luck
• Wear something new on January 1st. It encourages more new clothing to follow.
• Wear red underwear on New Year’s Eve to bring luck.
• Wear red clothing on New Year’s Day.
  

What to Do on New Year’s Eve

• Every door and window should be left open at midnight on to let the old year out.
• 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.
• Dancing around a tree (especially outside) ensures luck, love, and prosperity.
• There should be money in your pocket at the stroke of midnight.
• The pantry should be stocked as well.
• 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.
• A woman shouldn’t speak until a man says "Happy New Year."
• What to Do on New Year’s Day
• A first-footer is the first person through the door after the stroke of midnight. This person should be a good-looking, dark-haired man. He has to knock and be let in – not use a key to enter. He would ideally be carrying a piece of coal (the house will always be warm), bread (the household will always have food), money (obvious), and greenery (for long life). The first-footer brings extra luck if he happens to have a high in-step, or comes on a horse.
• The first words you hear in the minutes of the New Year will set the precedence for the entire year.
• Do something you are good or successful at on New Year’s Day – especially if it’s work related. This will tell how the rest of the New Year will go.
• 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.
• Nothing goes out – not even the garbage. The flip version of this rule is that nothing goes out until something new comes in.
• No money should be spent (that would be going out).
• No sweeping or dusting the first day of the year. The good luck could be swept out. If you have to sweep, you should sweep towards the center of the house and use a dust pan. (Some cultures "sweep out" the old year.)
• No crying January 1st, or you will be crying all year long.
  

New Year's Eve Superstitions

• First-footers can’t have flat feet, be cross-eyed, or have eyebrows that meet in the center.
• A first-footer can’t have blond or red hair, and a woman first-footer would be disastrous.
• Poultry should never be eaten on January 1st. Poultry scratch for their food, so those who eat poultry will "scratch" for their food all year.
• Our ancestors have always known that the moment of the freshly born New Year is the best time to renew hope for a new beginning.
• This New Year's Eve adopt some of these traditions and avoid the superstitions to bring luck into your New Year.
  

For the record, our first footer will bring us lots of luck because he is small, dark, and has four feet as well as making lots of noise..