5 NYE Traditions: Red Underwear, Black-Eyed Peas
Superstition around New Year's Eve compels folks to don colorful undergarments, and done on black-eyed peas. Do you have a NYE ritual?
- By Linda Hersey
- Email the author
- December 31, 2012
Here's a look at 10 New Year's Eve traditions, lore and facts to intrigue you on the last day of 2012.
1.) Why should you ring in the New Year with family and friends? It is thought that the first visitors you see after ringing in the New Year would bring you good or bad luck, depending on who you keep as friends and enemies. Keep your friends close and your enemies far, far away!
2.) The top three destinations in the United States to ring in the New Year are Las Vegas, Disney World and New York City.
3.) Eating black-eyed peas, ham and cabbage are thought to bring prosperity. However, stay away from bad luck foods like lobsters, because they move backward, and chicken, because they scratch in reverse. It is believed that eating these on New Year's day might cause a reversal of fortune.
4.) Nearly half of American adults make one or more resolutions each year. The top New Year's resolutions include weight loss, exercise, quitting smoking and better money management. By the second week of January, 25 percent of people have abandoned their resolutions.
5.) In Italy, people wear red underwear on New Year's Day as a symbol of good luck for the upcoming year.
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Cherlene Willis
1:20 pm on Monday, December 31, 2012
We have a couple of Filipino New Year's Eve traditions! Every December 31st, my mom makes a huge spread of food including fruits - especially grapes, mini sandwiches and cake or special breads like raisin or pumpkin. It symbolizes that we will not go hungry in the coming year. It's one of several Filipino Traditions on New Year's Eve.