The New Year is right around the corner, a time we set aside for ushering out the old and bringing in the new. Throughout history, most cultures have drawn an association between a person’s actions on New Year’s Day and their fate during the year. Here are a few New Year’s superstitions, taboos, folklore, and old wives tales—including the many food superstitions—still in general circulation.

New Year’s Folklore and Superstitions

1) Kiss At Midnight

One of the more popular beliefs is that kissing your beloved at the stroke of midnight ensures twelve months of continuing affection. Failing to do so is said to produce the opposite effect.

2) Resolve Any Debts

Never begin the New Year with unpaid debts.

3) Stock Your Cupboards

Empty cupboards at the turn of the year foretell a year of poverty.

4) Visitors And First Moves

The first person to enter your home after midnight foretells the kind of luck you’ll have in the coming year. A tall, dark, handsome male bearing small gifts is said to bring the best luck. According to this same tradition, no one should leave the house until someone first enters from outside, and nothing should be removed from the house on New Year’s Day.

5) Air It Out!

Opening all doors and windows at midnight lets the old year escape.

6) Lucky Birthday

Babies born on New Year’s Day are said to have the best luck throughout their lives.

7) Rise And Shine!

A Polish tradition states that if you wake up early on New Year’s Day, you will wake up early for the rest of the year. And if you touch the floor with the right foot when getting up from bed, you could expect a lot of good luck for whole new year. (You’ll literally be starting the new year on the “right” foot.)

New Year’s Food Superstitions and Traditions

  • In Italy, eating chiacchiere (carnival fried pastry), guarantees a sweet year – see recipe below!

  • In Spain, and many Latin countries, eating 12 grapes on New Year’s Eve—one for each stroke of midnight—is said to bring luck throughout the coming year.

  • According to a Pennsylvania “Dutch” (German) tradition, eating pork and sauerkraut brings good luck in the New Year.

  • In the Southern U.S., it is believed that eating black-eyed peas, ham hocks, and collard greens or cabbage on New Year’s Day will attract a financial windfall.

  • Eating anything that forms a circle—such as donuts and bagels—leads to good fortune in the coming year.

  • German folklore says that eating herring at the stroke of midnight will bring luck for the next year.

  • Similarly, eating pickled herring as the first bite of food of the New Year brings good luck to those of Polish descent.

But Don’t Eat These…

There are also some foods that you should not eat on New Year’s Eve, in order to prevent bad luck for the year ahead—especially lobster and chicken.

Since lobsters can move backwards, eating them before the stroke of midnight may cause setbacks. For chickens, the idea is similar as they can scratch backwards. Other types of winged fowl are also discouraged as your good luck could fly away.

While many of these traditions are based on mere superstition, the idea that what we do on the first day of the New Year affects our entire year remains popular. Choose your actions carefully!

Join The Discussion

Do you believe any of these superstitions?

What do you do on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day for good luck?

Let us know in the comments below!