None of the superstitions mean a thing to me. I have heard and tried them all (ones posted here and those that aren't). Guess what? I'm still broke. I'm still single. My luck is still the same.

The only thing that works for me is prayer.

Re: Re: Re: New Year's Superstition
 

Yep! My husand's family never heard of this either, but we did it every year in Orangeburg!

The collards (seasoned w/ hamhocks) are for money (greens :D ) and the black-eyed peas (hoppin' johns) are for luck! Cook 'em up, watch the ball drop, and eat at 12 am - Yummy!

The good ol' days...

*Sigh*

BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

That's too funny. I can imagine the look on that man's face....

I certainly don't put any stock in the superstitions, but do them out of tradition. It connects me to those that came before me and I like that.

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Part of my family is Scottish. It's Scottish tradition that the first person to set foot in your house after midnight on New Year's Day should be a tall, dark man. Generally, there are a few such men living in any given village or town, and they will go door-to-door to their neighbors and friends and cross their thresholds. At each house, they usually get a drink of whisky. By the end of the night they are pretty happy ;)

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My daddy was the designated "first step into the house" person, as he had BLACK hair!

I agree. It's the tradition, not the superstition.

I've heard through my family that it is bad luck to keep your Christmas tree up past New Years's. There have been plenty of New Year's Eve that we have scrambled to take our stuff down.

Hopping John's and greens---yum!:D We also have cook pork chops and chitlings with our meal.:D

Now see, my family considers it bad luck to take down the tree before Little Christmas (January 6). Why its called Little Christmas or what is celebrated, I don't know. I just know it gives me some breathing room after the Christmas rush.

January 6 is Epiphany, the last of the 12 days of Christmas. It signifies the arrival of the Three Wise Men with their gifts for the baby Jesus.

Some people exchange gifts on Epiphany, not Christmas.

I've never heard it called Little Christmas before, though...

Yeah, my family does

Cabbage (for money)
Pork...NO CHICKEN (because pigs push forward to eat and chicken scratch backwards...symbolizing forward movement in life)
Black Eyed Peas (Something about some sailors on a boat and they survived through the new year eating only black eyes peas...GROSS)
First person in the house has to be a man
No Christmas Tree
Clean house and no laundry on the 1st

Me too! I thought my Mom was the only one. :rolleyes:

OK, in addition to the ones you've listed...

-The first person to enter your home in the new year should be a man, otherwise it is bad luck

-Do not put up a new calendar until New Year's day - - - again, bad luck

-However you bring in the new year, is representative of how you will spend the majority of the following year. So, in the company of friends...then so be it in 2006. Sloppy drunk, then so be it in 2006...:D

instead of cabbage we do sauerkraut (same thing basically) plus my mom's side of the family has a chunk of pennsylvania dutch...

- marissa

Oh yeah...

my best friends dad says You have to have money in your pocket (wallet, etc) when the new year comes in...And he's usually a very stingy man, but nice man. He's good to be around on new year's eve while he's drunk passing out $50 bills to everyone :D

Must be something to those traditions, I was at the store the other day and could hardly get through to the collard green section in the store! One Lady was loading up on them! I also heard that if you put a collard green leaf in your wallet you will have money all year!