New Year’s Rituals And How They Bring Luck In The New Year

Before the new year enters, there are certain traditions that many cultures practice. These rituals are intended to set the tone for the new year. They all encourage prosperity, good luck, capital, and all-around good energy.

Essentially, the rituals are ushering out the old and welcoming the new. But do these rituals actually work? Her Agenda takes a deep dive into the theories of the cultural backgrounds of New Year’s rituals.

In the Black community, the annual New Year’s tradition is to make black-eyed peas and collard greens. This is a representation of money, i.e., black-eyed peas for coins and collard greens for green dollar bills. You are essentially speaking wealth and financial stability into your home on the first day of the New Year. We can all remember celebrating this day, as it was also the birthday of my favorite person in the world, my late but amazing grandmother.

According to Southern Living, writer John Egerton in Southern Food: At Home, On the Road, In History, black-eyed peas are associated with a “mystical and mythical power to bring good luck” and have been a Southern staple for more than three centuries. 

In the Philippines, the people wear red for love, and polka dots for prosperity. According to Next Shark, the round shapes symbolize money and fortune. Filipinos may wear dresses, shirts, pants, shoes, or any accessories with the polka dot pattern to welcome the New Year’s blessings. 

In Spain, the Spaniards eat 12 grapes at midnight, and in Latin America, for good luck in each month.

According to All Recipes, it’s known as “Las doce uvas de la suerte,” or “The twelve grapes of luck,” and each of the 12 grapes represents a month of the new year.

The custom began back in the late 1800s but was popularized in the early 1900s when farmers in the Alicante area produced an overabundant harvest and needed a way to increase grape sales. 

A European tradition is smashing dishes against doors, which shows affection and wards off spirits.

According to Great Value Holidays, a popular practice in Denmark is to smash plates against the front door of your friends and neighbors. More broken plates signify more luck in the New Year (and more affection from your friends), so if you’re really popular, you may want to leave the house with closed-toed shoes and a broom in hand. A less messy Danish tradition is to leap off a chair at midnight to signify jumping into the New Year.

Overall, cultural rituals are performed for comfort, positivity, and tradition. It is a matter of passing on values to generation as opposed to questioning if they work. Each culture ensures that they instill core beliefs into its family to promote a fresh start each year. So ultimately, do they work? Yes, because positivity always wins.