New Year traditions

The only tradition we have is that we must eat hog jowl, peas, greens and cornbread on new years day. A tradition I like because that is a tasty meal.

We don't make resolutions or stay up 'til midnight anymore.
 
My MIL was from Oklahoma and used to insist that we cook Black Eyed Peas every New Years Day for good luck throughout the year. We did it-even though neither of us (or our kids) liked them. Then in 1991,we cooked our beans,as usual,and 6 days later my mom passed away suddenly. Four months later,my FIL passed away suddenly. Two months after that,our daughter suffered a miscarriage and in December,my grandmother passed away. It was an AWFUL year and we blamed it on those darn black eyed peas. Have never made them since and so far,so good :)
 
From when I was very young we had a tradition in the family, supposedly an Irish one, but I don't know for sure, of opening the front door at midnight to " let the New Year in." A lot of people on my little street did the same thing, often banging on pots & pans & yelling happy new year! I still try to do that whenever I can, (without making noise, lol ) & regardless what time zone I'm in its The New Year to me whenever the ball drops in NY.
 
.....ditto on the
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Geezerette, my Scottish parents also opened the front and back doors,to "let the new year in and the old year out".
Then there was "first footing" - after midnight a dark haired person would come bearing a token gift of something like a piece of coal to represent warmth and comfort for the coming year. They would be traditionally be offered a 'wee dram' known as a "deoch an doris" - from the Gaelic for 'a drink at the door'.

A lot of these customs seem to have died out, and in the village here not much happens. There is an informal party at the church hall and the traditional singing of 'Auld Lang Syne' at midnight. We don't bother.
 
Unfortunately We dislike New Year celebrations these days , mostly because we have to spend the evening trying to settle our dogs from being terrified of the illegal fireworks that the inconsiderate idiots set off around our neighborhood,Daughter rang up about 10 o clock and said she had just found a little dog running scared in their street. we have big legal fireworks display put on for people that like that sort of thing,in the City.I am surprised that there wasn't a fire started here as the grass in the parks and paddocks are so tinder dry this time of the year here.
 
Last night Hubby and I, or should I say Darby and Joan, sat up watching TV until midnight when we watched the Sydney Harbour fireworks on the ABC. We do this every year now but when we were younger we used to have a house party with the neighbours. The venue would change each year in rotation and everyone would be there, including all the kids. There would be a lot of beer consumed from a nine gallon keg. Next morning the diehards would come around early to finish off the keg and an impromptu BBQ lunch would eventuate. Some years the garbage men would be collecting in our street and they would get waylaid and end up late emptying the bins. The men of our street would then jump up on the truck and help the catch up some time. Apparently our street was dubbed "Alcoholics Alley" at the depot.

Those days are long over. Today hubby and I went to the cinema to see Russell Crowe's latest film "The Water Diviner". We had some Lebanese food for lunch and now we are watching the Edinburg Tattoo on TV. This is an annual event over here on New Year's Day but actually takes place in late Summer in Scotland.

Now that I've written this, I am reminiscing over the different eras of my life.
 
Yes, I remember setting my mother's wind-up alarm clock for five minutes to twelve as a young child to be awake at midnight on a long ago New Year's Eve. I roamed around the house looking out the windows to see what was happening and was surprised and disappointed to see darkness and all quiet. Went back to bed and never thought about what where or what my mother was up to. Many years later I spent some time in a Filipino jail, but that is another story, equally depressing...
 
We were asleep by 10pm as expected..But the dogs had to go out around 11:55 so we were awake for the 15 minutes of firecrackers and gun shots.. All four dogs got in bed with us and shivered.. Happy New Year!
 
In scotland when I was young it was important that the first person through your door after midnight ( first footer) had to be a male, and if we weren't going to a party or having relatives visiting, my father would hoist my brother out of the window at 5 to midnight with a lump of coal, a piece of clootie dumpling ( a lucky thing to ensure the following year brought you food and warmth)...and he would have to stand on the doorstep until the bells rang at midnight when we'd let him in ensuring the first person over the threshold was a male!!
 
Well, OK, it seems that Filipinos celebrate New Year's Eve with small firecrackers. My friend Strasivitch and I were in a small nightclub with a pocketful of fireworks that we had been setting off outside, but he decided to set some off inside the club--a very bad idea! It seems that the chief of the Filipino police was enjoying a quiet evening with his wife when it sounded like all of hell broke loose and the chief was not amused. He called for backup and we were busted. Fortunately, an Air Force Air Policeman rode with Filipino police to insure that any Americans arrested were not roughed up too much. Winding up in a nasty jail was not the best way to welcome a new year. Fortunately, we were released after a call to the base and returned to our base after some period of time and after a serious discussion about respecting the rights of Filipinos. We were released at our barracks and I never heard anymore about it, which I have been ever thankful for, and back in the States I wound up in jail for another incident of rowdy behavior, but it wasn't a New Year's Eve, so that is a story for another time, perhaps I will start a thread on being jailed and hope that you have a story for us...
 
Never had any traditions as they pertain to the New Year. To me, it has only been another day to live the best that I can.
 
Hmmm, somehow I think that you have repressed memories of a rather wild youth, and it is time for you to let them come to the surface as it would be could for your psyche and, also, be enjoyable for us... :love_heart:
 

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