When the bells chime to ring in 2021 we won’t be sad to see the end of 2020. It has been one of the most challenging years of our time. Therefore, we are looking for traditions and superstitions that will help guide us to a better time ahead. So, get ready to share a socially distanced air hug and blow that horn for the new year with these New Year’s superstitions.
#1 Kiss at midnight
Find someone in your bubble that is happy to share a bit of a snog and lock lips as the bells toll for midnight. If you kiss someone at midnight then the love you show is meant to last for the coming 12 months. Remember to choose someone who you already share germs with… no breaking of those COVID rules!
#2 Eat 12 grapes at midnight
If you have no one to kiss or are cautious of getting too close, try eating grapes instead. This superstition comes from Spain. The idea is to eat 12 grapes at midnight – one for each month of the year, asking for luck for each. It is best to load your 12 onto a skewer and serve it as a garnish for friends and family as the New Year tolls. Serve it beside a champagne cocktail to cheer them up even more.
#3 Fill up your cupboards
Quick! Get to the stores. It is considered really bad luck to start the new year with bare cupboards. It is thought to tempt poverty and hardship into your life.
#4 Put cast in your wallet
As with your cupboards, you should avoid having an empty wallet. The superstition also asks you to not start the year with unpaid debts. This superstition might have been written by the banks…
#5 Don’t clear your house
Now this is more like it! This is my sort of superstition. Sweeping and washing leading up to the new year could wipe away your good luck. So, don’t go doing it on new year’s eve, for the good of all those around you. (No cleaning and a hero – the best win win ever!)
#6 Open the doors
Well, you might want to dress up warm for this one. Just before midnight on new year’s eve, you need to open all your doors to let all the bad luck out – and all your home’s heat!
#7 Smile broadly
The superstition is actually not to cry on New Year’s Eve… but it has been such a challenging year. So, let’s slightly rework this and say: remember to smile! Hopefully, this should keep the tears away.
#8 Get your black-eyed peas and collard greens
Eating legumes and veg are good for your health but they are also good for your luck too! It is a Southern US tradition and bodes well for some great food at your house. It is thought that if you eat collard greens and black-eyed peas you will bring yourself prosperity.
#9 Don’t leave the house
This one could be super easy to achieve in the time of COVID-19. Not only are you likely to need to stay in your house for your health – but it will bring the bonus of some good lick too. The actual superstition is that you can’t leave the house until someone enters from the outside first. Now, who the person is will tell you what the luck is you are going to have. As an added bonus, that first person should also bring you a gift. Talk about a winning formula – we are loving this superstition this year.
#10 No lobster for you
OK, so New Year’s Eve food is a lovely thing and usually touched with an element of luxury. However, you do not want to bring in the bad luck, so make sure there are no lobsters. It is bad luck because apparently they move backwards, so it brings you lots of setbacks. This feels like a tenuous word play game to us – but hey – it is definitely lucky for the lobster too.
#11 But not so good for the herring
Whle the lobster gets a reprieve at the new year, herrings do not. Eating pickled or fresh herring in Germany and Sweden is considered exceptionally good luck.
#12 Get noisy
Another way to bring some luck is to make a lot of noise at midnight – set off those fireworks, blow those hooters and cheer as loud as you can to scare the evil away from your life.
#13 Carry that empty suitcase
OK, this one is weird and might get you a few funny licks. However, in Columbia, if you walk around your house for a few minutes with your empty suitcase, you invite adventures into 2021.
#14 Beware eating chicken
Wow. The menu is a complex thing on a new year’s eve. What is lucky to eat or not seems to be a complicated mix. Eating chicken is apparently bad luck because your luck could fly away. Chickens have wings you see… which obviously then discounts the eating of any bird on new year’s eve. Again… strange word play… and Chicken Thighs with Garlic and Rosemary is beautiful and simple to serve.
#15 When you were born
And finally, if you are born at midnight on New Year’s Eve you are going to have the luckiest life in the world. It just happens automatically.
While this is a light-hearted look at superstitions and traditions, we are aware that people need a bit of happiness in 2021. When New Year’s Eve is here we hope that whatever happens in your home and with your family that you enjoy the best year next year – you deserve it.
We wish you the best of health, luck, prosperity and love for 2021.
