Ask Chicagoist: How Do I Get Lucky in the New Year?
By Thales Exoo in Miscellaneous on Dec 30, 2006 4:00PM
Hi Chicagoist,
This past year wasn't really one of my favorites ever. I could use some good luck and good things to come my way in 2007. I know there are different things different cultures do in order to bring on luck in the new year. Again – I could use all the help I can get so I plan on doing everything I can. Help me out by giving me some ideas.
Sincerely,
Luckless in 2006
Our Dear Luckless in 2006,
Or, shall we say, lucky in 2007! It's almost New Year's Eve, and the time for stocking up on all that good karma for the new year is upon us. It's time to come up with a laundry list of ways to improve our bodies, minds, and psyches, generally overstating reasonable expectations and expecting miracles to happen overnight. When it comes to resolutions (we have the Babylonians to blame for that tradition), we have to insist that you concentrate on just one thing, and have a good plan for how to make the dream a reality. But blind, random luck? Well, different people have different opinions on that one, but they usually all revolve around food.
Around our house, we eat cabbage every New Years Day. Although to be honest, we had no idea as to why we actually did that. Looks like cabbage is a symbol of prosperity, and people in the southern United States eat that, along with black-eyed peas, on New Years Day. The foods are also considered a symbol of money, so we're thinking we haven't eaten quite enough, or we need to add the black-eyed peas to our meal (the jury's still out on whether we also need to ask Fergie over for dinner).
Although it may interfere with other traditional New Year's resolutions, the Dutch believe that eating donuts called oliebollen (literally, “oil balls” -- it's okay, we laughed too) on New Year's Eve will bring good fortune. The idea is that anything circular is good luck because it symbolizes the “completion of a cycle of a year.” Our favorite (just call us Scrooge) Dutch tradition, however, has got to be the burning of Christmas trees on the street.
In Germany, people eat sauerkraut (more cabbage!) and pork for good luck. They also have a somewhat perplexing tradition of watching a British comedy sketch called “Dinner for One” on television. Not only that, but they watch it in English. And the show has never been shown in the UK.
Watermelon is eaten in Vietnam, because the red color is a symbol for good luck. For that same reason, people in Japan dine on red snapper with soba noodles. The noodles need to be sucked up without breaking them in order to get good luck from them.
In Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, people eat exactly twelve grapes right at midnight to ensure twelve months of happiness. We, more likely than not, will have injested well more than twelve grapes worth of libation by the time midnight rolls around, so our happiness should be triple-fold in 2007!
Obviously we've barely scratched the surface when it comes to traditions – Father Time's has ideas from all around the globe.
Are you as full as we are thinking about all of these possibilities? What are your New Year's traditions? Any special foods or rituals?
Image via phil wood photo
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