The "Are You Ready For The New Year?" Story

Eat pork and sauerkraut for good luck!

It was an ordinary day.  Getting ready for guests at the dinner table with the traditional pork and sauerkraut.  In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania you must eat the traditional pork and sauerkraut if you expect to have good luck the entire year.  My daughter, who now lives in neighboring Maryland with her family, makes sure she, her husband and two children eat a bite of both to ensure good luck for the year.  Boy, was she raised right!  The reason for the pork is that pigs root forward for their food which symbolizes moving ahead in the new year instead of eating chicken or turkey which scratch backwards for their food.  As far as the kraut...you got me on that one.  It was a German tradition and since many people from Germany settled in Pennsylvania, I guess the sauerkraut followed along with them in tradition.  So what other traditions do you follow for the New Year?  

Oliebollen

In Spain the custom is to eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight while in Mexico the tamale is eaten on New Year's Day.  You can be thankful that you don't live in the Netherlands since they consume fried oil balls, known as oliebollen, on New Year's Eve.  I can just imagine what they think of eating pork and kraut.  Seems Germany has given up sauerkraut, but in turn drink, along with revelers from neighboring Austria, a red wine punch with cinnamon and spices on New Year's Eve.  They also eat suckling pig for dinner and decorate the table with little pigs made of marzipan.  

Soba noodles

Japanese families eat buckwheat soba noodles at midnight to bid farewell to the year gone by and welcome in the year to come.  The tradition of a New Year's cake is in many cultures.  The Greeks have the Vasilopita, the French have the gateau while the Bulgarians enjoy the banitsa.  Italians celebrate with a cotechino con lenticchie which is a sausage and lentil stew that is said to bring good luck.  

Herring...I might like this, but would rather have a donut!

In Poland and Scandinavia partake of the silver colored herring.  Some like it in a cream sauce while others have it with onions.  Rice is said to bring good luck if consumed on New Year's day in India and Pakistan while in Switzerland dollops of whipped cream symbolize richness for the year to come.  Now, they don't eat it but drop it on the floor where it remains for the year.  Nah, I'd rather eat a herring and get it over with than have to walk on whipped cream for a year.  Now, if I was smart, I would live in Ireland where they eat pastries called bannocks.  But, I believe my favorite New Year's Eve custom that I could find was eating any ring-shaped treat, such as a donut, since it symbolizes "coming full circle" and leads to good fortune.  You know, I think we all should begin our new year with a donut or two...dunked in milk!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.