Australians celebrate the New Year with a barbecue, grilling sausage, steak, and lamb. And people in Scotland participate in the tradition of "first footing" on New Year's Day, bringing gifts of shortbread, a black bun, and whisky to a neighbor's house.
According to Southern lore, you will have good luck for the entire year if you have the traditional New Year's Day supper. In the South, that means a meal of collard greens, hoppin' John, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and pot likker soup.
Australians celebrate the New Year with midnight fireworks in cities and towns throughout the country. Firework displays are launched off bridges, such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, from jetties along the beaches, and on river banks, with the lights of the fireworks sparkling off the water.
But, in some parts of the country and the world, so are black-eyed peas, lentils, grapes and pickled herring. Hailing from the Low Country of South Carolina to Japanese noodle houses to Pennsylvania Dutch homes, these are seven lucky dishes traditionally eaten around the New Year to bring good fortune.
Greens, Black-Eyed Peas, Cornbread, and Ham | Photo by Meredith. You might say you're not superstitious, but why tempt fate? Dig into these traditional lucky foods on New Year's Day to attract abundance and prosperity in the year ahead.
1. United States: Watching the ball drop. Millions of Americans gather around their television sets (or on the streets of Times Square, despite freezing temps) to watch the ball drop at the stroke of midnight each year.
4) Banging bread on the walls and doors.
Another New Year's Eve Irish tradition that has been passed through generations of Irish superstitions involves banging bread onto the walls and doors of the family home. If you don't have any bread, you can use pots, pans or wooden spoons!
New Year is celebrated with great enthusiasm and gaiety by whole of Australia. January 1 is the New Year's day in Australia as per the Gregorian Calendar. New Year Celebrations end on January 6. All discotheques, pubs, clubs, hotels, party halls and even beaches are crowded with party maniacs.
It's said that you shouldn't eat winged fowl (read: birds like turkey or chicken), bottom feeders (like shrimp or catfish), or any seafood that swims backward or side to side (like lobster or crab).
Greens. The color green symbolizes luck — think about four-leaf clovers, dollar bills, and jade jewelry. As if that's not enough, eating a plate full of greens (kale, green beans, and Brussels sprouts) will start your year off on a healthy note.
Roast goose or chicken, stuffed with apples, is traditionally eaten for New Year's dinner. Eating as many pieces of meat as possible during New Year's dinner is believed to ensure happiness in the coming year, and a "bountiful table" will ensure wealth.
In Denmark, more than hearing fireworks on the New Year, you can listen to people breaking plates as it is a traditional practice among the Danish to throw plates at their neighbours' or friends' doors to celebrate the New Year. A giant pile of broken dishes is believed to represent more luck by the Danish.
Round desserts, like bundts, donuts, layer cakes, cookies, and more are all believed to bring a full circle of luck in the New Year.
Why are people eating 12 grapes under a table? According to an NPR article from 2012, the New Year is celebrated in Spain by eating 12 green grapes for each toll of the clock, and eating the entire dozen while wearing red undergarments will bring good luck. Each grape is supposed to represent a month in the year.
For centuries, the Chinese have believed cleaning on the first couple of days of a new year, especially sweeping on New Year's Day, brings bad luck. Since this seems to be one of the oldest New Year's superstitions, go ahead and skip the sweeping.
The most common Chinese New Year foods include dumplings, fish, spring rolls, and niangao. We've rounded up 7 essential Chinese, or Lunar, New Year dishes, and included the symbolism behind them all.
The Pennsylvania Dutch, as well as many other cultures, believe eating pork on New Year's Day brings good luck because pigs root around with their snouts in a forward motion. (We want to move forward, not backward in the new year).
Beef or pork is the meat of choice because unlike chickens these animals do not scratch in the dirt for their food. It's said that if you eat chicken on New Year's Day you are setting your destiny for the coming year to scratch in the dirt for your survival, which sounds pretty awful if you ask us.