When it comes to New Year’s Eve, most of us focus on what happens that evening, but did you know that according to folklore what you do the last day and first day of the year predicts your fate in the year ahead?
Many cultures throughout the world associate what people do on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with what happens to them in the coming year. This belief is the basis for superstitions that drive people to do irrational things hoping to have a lucky New Year.
If you think about it, we all follow a superstition or two. We cross our fingers for good luck, wear a lucky piece of jewelry or clothing, avoid breaking mirrors and walking in front of black cats. Some people grow certain plants to attract financial success, while others scatter or bury things around the house to ward off evil spirits.
Superstitions for Good Luck
If you’re hoping for good fortune in the New Year, you have nothing to lose by following some of these age-old customs and superstitions. Here are a few things you could do on the last and first day of the year to improve your luck.
1. Stock Up
You cannot welcome the New Year with bare cupboards. You just can’t! Empty cupboards means empty pockets—poverty and hardship. So stock up your favorite foods before the end of the year.
2. Pay Your Bills
Paying off your bills before the first day of the year is supposed to bring financial luck in the New Year. Pay your bills, your bookie and your in-laws before midnight on New Year’s Eve. And don’t lend any money on New Year’s Day.
3. Put Cash in Your Wallet
After you pay your bills, don’t forget to pay yourself. Put some cash in your wallet to attract more money in the year ahead.
4. Don’t Sweep or Throw Anything Out
If you hate cleaning, you’ll love this custom. Don’t sweep the floor on New Year’s Day because you could be sweeping your good fortune away. According to this superstition, you shouldn’t clean the house nor throw anything out—not even garbage—on that day. Some people believe it’s OK to throw things out as long as they bring in new things into the house first. The idea is to add something to the house before taking something out.
5. Work
To guarantee success in your career, start the year by doing something, however small, related to your job. In addition, working on the last day of the year will help secure your job.
6. Wear New Clothes
Wear something new on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to attract more garments in the year ahead. Jazz up your wardrobe!
7. Don’t Do Laundry
Speaking of clothes, resist the temptation (like you’re so tempted) to do laundry on New Year’s Day. According to folklore, doing laundry on the first day of the year causes a household member to be “washed away” (yes, die) that year.
8. Air It Out
Let the old year out and the New Year in by opening all doors and windows at midnight on New Year’s Eve. This one is about new beginnings: The New Year can’t come in until the old year leaves. If it’s super cold outside, wear a coat and open the doors and windows for a couple of minutes.
9. Don’t Break Anything
Avoid breaking anything or you may have a painful year ahead. Breaking things, especially mirrors and glassware, is a bad omen that can literally wreck your life. If you tend to be a bit clumsy, stay away from fragile stuff.
10. First Footing
The first person to enter your home after the stroke of midnight will influence the year you’re about to have. A tall, handsome and dark-haired man is supposed to bring good luck (blondes and redheads are bad luck). He should come bearing small gifts such as salt, a silver coin, a sprig of evergreen or a bit of bread. The first footer must knock the door and be admitted into the house. After greeting everyone in the house and dropping off the gifts, he should leave by a different door. No one else should leave the house before the first footer arrives because the first traffic across the threshold should be someone heading in rather than someone heading out.
11. Don’t Cry
If you want joy instead of sorrow in the New Year, you better start the year smiling and laughing and not crying. So save your tears for another day.
12. Be Loud
When midnight comes, scream as loud as you can and make noise by banging things such as pots and pans. Loud noises scare away evil spirits. Did you know that’s the reason for fireworks and noisemakers on New Year’s Eve?
13. Hang Lemons
Another way to ward off evil spirits and attract good energy on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day is to hang lemons in doorways. They even smell good, so why not try it?
14. Don’t Eat Chicken
Chickens scratch the dirt to find their meals, so eating chicken on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day brings the kind of luck that will make you have to scratch the dirt to find your dinner in the year ahead. How’s that for dirt poor?
While many of these superstitions may seem totally freaky, the idea behind them is a genuine one: how we end and start something can set the tone for what’s coming next.