I hope you all had an excellent Christmas season, and were able to spend time with family and friends. I celebrated with family back on the 16th, but did manage some time to have a relaxing Christmas Eve / Day.
Remember: If you are planning to do any Christmas gift returns this year BRING A RECIEPT! I always include a gift receipt with the gifts I give to make it easier on the recipient, as well as the folks at the store. They have enough trouble this time of year….stopping in unprepared is not keeping with the holiday spirit!
With New Years just around the corner, I thought I would share a few traditions you might want to try to get 2024 off to a good start:
Make New Year’s Resolutions
It wasn’t all tinsel and tipples for good old Gram. Making resolutions is perhaps the most popular New Year’s tradition, but previous generations in particular practiced the art of setting goals for the upcoming year.
…and Actually Keep Them!
More importantly, your predecessors likely stuck to their goals. This year, we resolve to have the perseverance of our parents’ parents.
Decorate a New Year’s Tree
Who says the fun has to end after Christmas? The tradition of the New Year’s tree goes all the way back to the 1600s, and you can easily transition your Tannenbaum to suit the celebrations.
Watch the Ball Drop
Now you can stream the Times Square ball drop on TV, but it’s actually a classic event that has been around since 1907. Don’t let the clock strike midnight without watching the famous event.
Sing Auld Lang Syne
The song dates back to the 18th century and must be sung at midnight. Need to brush up on the song’s history and lyrics? We’ve got you covered.
Get Ready to Leave the Mess
Don’t clean the house on New Year’s Day or you might wash away any good luck. You might want to spend a few minutes on New Year’s Eve taking out the trash or starting the dishwasher so you don’t start the week with a mess.
Head to the Bank
A common New Year’s superstition says you should start the year with some cash in your pocket to ensure a prosperous year. So be sure to stop by the ATM while you’re running errands on December 31.
Open the Windows
That’s right. It may be one of the coldest time of year, but New Year’s superstitions tell us to leave the windows open so you can let the old year out and the new one in.
Eat Grapes
Exactly 12! If you want luck in 2024, eat a dozen grapes at the stroke of midnight. Reflect on the upcoming year as you eat: Each grape represents one month of 2024.
Look Sharp
“When you look at old photos of our parents and grandparents, you see that everyone is dressed nicely at big holiday gatherings,” Lizzie Post, cohost of the Awesome Etiquette podcast, told us of Christmas traditions back in the day. The same goes for New Year’s Eve celebrations. What better occasion is there to break out a cocktail dress or suit?
Toss Tinsel Everywhere
The sparkly streamers have lost steam in recent years, but there’s just nothing like loads of the vintage holiday decorations for adding glamour to your gathering.
Embrace Your Heritage
The way your grandparents commemorated the New Year might have something to do with your roots. In Scotland, New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay, as they call the last day of the year, is a bigger deal than Christmas (“Auld Lang Syne” is a Scottish song, after all). The massive party goes on for days and incorporates age-old acts, such as first-footing. It’s considered good luck to have a tall, dark-haired man enter the home for the first time after midnight—bearing auspicious gifts, of course (coal, shortbread, salt, and whiskey are common).Germany has Bleigiessen, a “lead-pouring” custom, and the Irish apparently bang bread against the walls to beat off bad luck. You could also coordinate your underwear to your hopes for the year (red for love, yellow for happiness, and so on)—a Latin American custom. Start calling your Christmas tree a New Year’s tree, as they do in Russia or participate in a Canadian-inspired polar bear plunge.
Eat New Year’s Food
Yes, there are even New Year’s Eve food traditions. Different cultures consider certain foods to be fortuitous for the New Year, especially when eaten right as the clock strikes 12. In Chile, it’s lentils, while in Spain, it’s 12 white grapes. In case you needed any excuse to indulge in doughnuts and pretzels, several cultures believe ring-shaped foods represent coming full circle. And on New Year’s Day, the traditional Southern spread consists of black-eyed peas and collard greens (symbols for wealth—coins and green folding money, respectively), ham or pork (for prosperity), and cornbread (for gold). We love our Louisiana Hoppin’ John recipe, which incorporates all three.
Pray
It’s fitting that the first day of the new year would have some religious significance, even if it has nothing to do with the calendar resetting. Some Christian churches (particularly in African-American communities) host “Watch Night” services, a tradition tied to the Emancipation Proclamation. For Catholics, January 1st, or the Solemnity of Mary, is a Holy Day of Obligation, meaning they have to attend mass on New Year’s Day. However, knowing that revelers will be out late the night before, many churches offer a vigil Mass option on New Year’s Eve as well.
Toast with a Traditional Drink
Sure, Champagne has become the New Year’s Eve drink of choice, but your grandparents might have clinked coupes filled with Wassail, a special cider-like punch with English origins, a “hot pint,” the Scottish spin, or mulled wine, Holland’s traditional drink, instead of the bubbly beverage.
Make Some Noise
There’s a longstanding tradition of starting the new year off with a bang. Only, instead of shooting guns, as was common in the American colonies, Grandma and Grandpa blew noise horns, rang bells (a nod to church bells), and set off fireworks (a Chinese New Year custom).
Give a Gift
In the past, the gift giving season didn’t stop at Christmas! Handing out gilded coins or nuts was an old Roman ritual, according to the The Old Farmer’s Almanac, but you could also give eggs for fertility, a Persian practice. Just as in their first-footing tradition, the Scottish apparently also traded shortbread, coal, and silverware, while Egyptians’ specialty was earthenware flasks.
Countdown and Kiss at Midnight
We know that people still do this, but the reasoning behind it bears repeating: “Kiss the person you hope to keep kissing,” as the saying goes.
If you know of a New Year’s event going on in the area, please let me know so I can mention it on the air, as well as post it here on the blog. Send the information to rob@kcfiradio.com
