It was an ordinary day. Opening my end-of-the-year emails and came across one that I was about to discard when I hit the wrong key and it opened on my desktop. Found it was a few rather interesting customs, legends, superstitions, etc. relating to the first day of the New Year. Some were interesting, some were crazy and some I should have hit the correct button and deleted them. Will share with you some of each category and let you decide for yourself in which category they should belong. So here goes....
1. Paying off bills: The New Year should not begin with the household in debt, so checks should be written and mailed off prior to January 1st. I know...it's a bit late to be telling you this today!
2. Kissing at midnight: At midnight you should kiss the one most dearest to you at the moment the New Year begins. It is to insure that those affections and ties will continue throughout the next twelve months. If you fail to give your sweetheart a kiss at midnight, you will be in for a year of coldness! Once again...I'm sorry I didn't tell you this yesterday. And, don't try to make up for it by spending the next hour or so kissing your sweetheart for she or he may have already kissed someone else.
3. As far as the meal you will eat today...if you are having pork, legend has it that it's because a pig roots forward, which is good luck for the new year. Probably also practical if you are a farmer, since you want to eat the fresh meat first that you butchered before it spoils and save smoked meats for later meals.
4. The first person to enter your home after the stroke of midnight will influence the year you are about to have. Hopefully he or she will be good looking and bearing special gifts such as a silver coin, bit of bread, spring of evergreen or some salt. Why, I'm not sure! For me a good looking redhead, blond or brunette would be helpful. Oh yeah...probably best if you are married to them, as in my case!
5. The "First Footer" or "Lucky Bird" (first person in your home in the New Year) should knock on the door rather then enter with a key, even if they live in the home. After greeting those in the house and dropping off whatever small token of luck they might have brought, they should exit the home through another door. And, no one should leave the house before the first footer crosses the threshold of the home.
6. First Footers should not be cross-eyed or have flat feet or eyebrows that meet in the middle. Wow...that's just about everyone I know!
7. Nothing Goes Out, not even garbage, of the house on the first day of the year. If you have plans to give gifts to someone on New Years Day, put then outside the day before so they won't have to be taken out on New Years Day. Also, don't shake out a rug or take the trash out. UNLESS...you bring in something first to replace what you plan to take out. What sense this makes I'm not sure.
8. Make sure to do something related to your job on the first day of the year, even if you don't go near your place of employment that day. But, don't get too involved with your job for it is unlucky to engage in serious work on the first day of the year.
9. Do not do laundry on the first day of the year lest a member of the family be 'washed away' (die) in the upcoming months. For some, that even means doing dishes.
10. Don't pay back loans or lend money on New Years Day. To do so means you will be paying out all year.
11. Wear something new on January 1 to increase the likelihood of your receiving more new garments during the year.
12. Avoid breaking anything on the first day of the year or it will continue all year. Also, avoid crying lest that activity will set the tone for the next twelve months.
14. Avoid using the unlucky number 13 if at all possible.
15. At midnight, all the doors of the house must be opened to let the old year escape unimpeded.
16. Make as much noise as possible at midnight! You're not just celebrating but scaring away evil spirits; so do a damn good job of yelling! I personally know that the Devil hates loud noises. That's also why Wedding Bells are rung on a couple's wedding day.
17. If the weather directly after the New Year enters has wind blowing from the south, there will be fine weather and prosperous times in the year ahead. If it comes from the north it will be a year of bad weather. The wind blowing from the east brings famine and calamities while the wind blowing from the west will give plentiful supplies of milk and fish, but will also bring death of an important person. If the air is still, a joyful and prosperous year can be expected.
18. If you are lucky enough to be born on New Year's Day you will have luck with you for the rest of your life!
Happy New Year from our house to yours and open your door, eat pork, make some noise, but don't break anything today! And, just in case...throw me a kiss. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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