Your cart is currently empty!
New Year’s traditions and superstitions: What to eat, do
Everyone wants to bring in a bit of luck during the new year. Whether it’s to accomplish all those New Year’s resolutions or just have a prosperous 2025, every culture has its New Year’s traditions, but some might stand out more than others. Here is a list of things to eat, do and avoid to ensure your 2025 is as lucky and properous as possible.
We all want to start 2025 on the right foot. Whether someone wants to travel more or find the love of their life, there are New Year’s superstitions that people believe can help manifest precisely what you want to accomplish in the new year.
There are also plenty of foods that you can eat to bring good fortune, too!
Whether they sound silly or not is entirely up to the person practicing it. But here are a few of the ways people make sure their new year is filled with luck, love and adventure.
What’s open New Year’s Eve?Hours and details for stores, restaurants, more
Holiday deals: Shop this season’s top products and sales curated by our editors.
Eating 12 grapes under a table
When the clock strikes 12, make sure you’re under the dinner table shoveling grapes into your mouth while balancing a glass of champagne (or sparkling grape juice) and trying not to choke so you can bring good luck and ensure your resolutions are accomplished.
The table is unnecessary for some, but according to Parade, some believe adding a table to the equation could help a person find the love of their life.
Eating 12 grapes at midnight to ring in the new year is a Spanish tradition that is hundreds of years old, according to Vogue. It is practiced across the Caribbean, South America and other Hispanic and Latine countries, too.
Each grape represents 12 resolutions or wishes for the new year. Whether it be to lose weight, find love or find a new job, eating the grapes at midnight will help people accomplish that.
Walk around the block with an empty suitcase
Feeling wanderlust? Well, grab an empty suitcase and walk around the block with it.
The Latin American tradition is supposed to draw in adventure and traveling to new places in the upcoming year, reported CBS News Miami.
However, some people believe the suitcase should be packed with the things that represent the vacation you want, like sunscreen and pool floaties if your dream vacation is to Miami or Puerto Rico, before going on that walk, according to Amigos International.
Avoid laundry and clean up
People avoid doing laundry or cleaning on Jan. 1st as it can cleanse away any good fortunes for the upcoming year, according to Chinese superstition.
Another distressing belief is that doing laundry and cleaning will “wash away a loved one,” meaning someone you love could die in the new year, reported CBS News.
According to superstition, you’ll be sweeping away good luck along with dirt and dust mites, so avoid cleaning until Jan 2nd.
People may think it’s a little silly to avoid cleaning and putting away Christmas lights, but there’s no harm in taking the day off, it is a holiday after all, and inviting potential luck to come into the new year.
Eat black-eyed peas and lentils
Add even more round foods to your day with these little guys!
Round foods resemble coins and money, Linda Pelaccio, who hosted the culinary radio show “A Taste of the Past,” previously told USA TODAY.
Eat these symbolic foods for a financially prosperous new year. On the contrary: Don’t eat the round foods and you could have a year of bad luck!
If you eat peas with greens and cornbread, then that’s even more auspicious, what with green being the color of money and cornbread calling to mind gold.
Black-eyed peas are served with rice in the traditional Southern U.S. dish called “Hoppin’ John” for New Year’s Eve. Or, the peas can be part of a soup. In Italy, lentils mix with pork for a lucky dish.
More food equals more luck, but avoid lobster
Noodles, pork, whole fish and pomegranate seeds can also bring you luck in the new year.
Grapes and lentils aren’t the only things you can eat to bring good fortune to 2025.
Pigs have always been considered lucky, so a meal with pork can bring prosperity.
“Pigs take their snout and root forward, as opposed to digging backward,” Linda Pelaccio, who hosted the culinary radio show “A Taste of the Past,” previously told USA TODAY.
While eating pork is great because they always move forward, try to avoid eating lobster.
However, mixing pork, pomegranate, fish, and black-eyed peas on a plate doesn’t sound too appealing, so it’s probably for the best you space out your luck-bringing treats throughout New Year’s Eve and Day.
“It’s not good to eat lobsters because they walk backward,” said Pelaccio.
Use the color of your undies to manifest love
The color of the undies you wear on New Year’s can bring you your heart’s desires in the new year, according to Sustainable Baddie,
Looking to get that raise or a better-paying job? Well then, you may want to wear yellow panties. Red panties are said to bring passion and love, while pink brings platonic love. Blue brings good health, and green undies being freedom, life and nature.
So maybe a quick trip to Victoria’s Secret or Target might be the key to unlocking your New Year’s Resolutions.
According to Rockland/Westchester Journal News, a part of the USA TODAY Network, wearing different colored underwear for your New Year wishes is common in many different countries, including Spain, Latin America and Italy, where the tradition is said to have originated.
Good luck and happy New Year!
There’s nothing to lose if you want to try out some of these superstitious snacks and traditions.
With 2025 less than 24 hours away, it doesn’t hurt to give yourself, and the universe, some help when it comes to manifesting your goals next year.
Regardless of what your resolutions are, hopefully, these superstitious tips and tricks can put a smile on your face, even if not all your resolutions come true this year. Besides, there’s always 2026 to look forward to!
Happy New Year!
Contributing: Carly Mallenbaum; Alexandra Rivera, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
Julia is a trending reporter for USA TODAY. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok: @juliamariegz, or email her at jgomez@gannett.com
New Year’s traditions and superstitions are a fun and festive way to ring in the new year. Here are some popular customs and beliefs from around the world:
1. Eating black-eyed peas: In the southern United States, it is believed that eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day brings good luck and prosperity for the coming year.
2. Making noise: In many cultures, making loud noises at midnight on New Year’s Eve is thought to scare away evil spirits and bring good luck. This can include fireworks, banging pots and pans, or even blowing a whistle.
3. Wearing red underwear: In some Latin American countries, it is believed that wearing red underwear on New Year’s Eve will bring love and passion in the coming year.
4. Eating round fruits: In the Philippines, it is customary to eat 12 round fruits at midnight on New Year’s Eve to symbolize prosperity and abundance for each month of the coming year.
5. Breaking old dishes: In Denmark, it is a tradition to throw old dishes at the front doors of friends and family on New Year’s Eve. The more broken dishes you have on your doorstep, the more luck you will have in the new year.
6. Jumping off a chair: In Spain, it is believed that jumping off a chair at midnight on New Year’s Eve will bring good luck and ward off evil spirits.
7. Making a wish: In many cultures, it is believed that whatever you are doing at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve will set the tone for the coming year. So make sure to have your loved ones close by and make a wish for a happy and prosperous year ahead.
These are just a few of the many New Year’s traditions and superstitions practiced around the world. Whether you choose to follow them or not, they can add a fun and meaningful element to your New Year’s celebrations.
Tags:
New Year’s traditions, New Year’s superstitions, New Year’s food traditions, New Year’s rituals, New Year’s activities, New Year’s beliefs, lucky foods for New Year’s, New Year’s superstitions around the world, New Year’s customs, New Year’s celebration traditions, New Year’s good luck charms.
#Years #traditions #superstitions #eat
Leave a Reply