Good luck ritual on NYE? Anyone?

As you know, I am from Brasil, and as a good Brasilian, there are a ton of good luck rituals we do tonight for good luck in the New Year - I was wondering if this is mainly a Brasilian thing, or if anyone here does too?

Here are the typical things:
1- we spend the NYE in White. We dress all white... now, the underware..... here is the deal (MUST BE NEW!!)
white - good luck in general
pink/red - Love
yellow - Money

well, tonight I will be wearing the three of them

Food: We must eat Lentil Soup - that will bring good luck for $$$. I didn't last year, and got completely screwed... not playing around this year .
Also, Eat one pomegranate, and keep 6 of the seed in your wallet for good luck.

Bay leaves - write your wishes on bay leaves, and keep them all year on your wallet. Just throw them away in the Next NYE. (all wishes need to be written by midnight).

At midnight, you need to be standing on your RIGHT FOOT. This is of utmost importance!

So.... I am going to Target now to pick up my new undies, bay leaves, and steal a pomegranete from the neighbors fence .

What about you, any rituals????

for everybody for a wonderful new year!!!

That's fascinating! I read a book by film director Robert Rodriguez some years ago in which he described the ritual he learned in his family, which I believe is from Mexico: you have to walk out your front door at the stroke of midnight with a suitcase in hand, eat twelve grapes, and throw twelve pennies as far as you can. The suitcases ensure that you get to travel in the new year, the grapes make all twelve months sweet, and the pennies bring you wealth every month.

I immediately adopted that ritual and did it for many years... but then last New Year's Eve, I thought it over and realized that my life during those years had actually been worse than before! So I abandoned that ritual.

But I decided yesterday to institute a new one: in a few minutes, I'm going out to the kitchen to make a strawberry pie. I figure any year that begins with a bite of fresh-baked strawberry pie can't possibly go too far wrong.

We do have some bay leaves, though... maybe I'll incorporate that, too!

No traditions here, and it's well after midnight (8am) so too late to try any suggested

For prosperity you are supposed to run clockwise around your house/ property 3 times naked!!!!! I try to convince my husband every year to do this and I just can't get him drunk enough!!!!

eating a forkful or creamed pickled herring. for the last few years my tradition has been running from my mother who chases me with a forkful of the stuff institing that I will have bad luck should I skip out on eating it...and i just got to thinking the last few years have been really rough...prehaps there is something to eating a forkful of that nasty stuff...this year I think I am going to choke down a forkful and see if my fortune improves!

My good luck ritual is to stay in.... don't go out and drink... asking for trouble!

everyone here a wonderful, happy and prosperous New Year!! Not sorry to see 2009 go... it was one of the worst years on record for me financially. Onward and upward!!!

Originally Posted by abbycats

For prosperity you are supposed to run clockwise around your house/ property 3 times naked!!!!! I try to convince my husband every year to do this and I just can't get him drunk enough!!!!

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In Nebraska? I wouldn't do that either!

Wow this is all fascinating! I never heard of good luck rituals of any kind for New Year's Eve before!

I've never been superstitious - but Gary is, so I honor all of his superstitions. None of them have to do with New Year's eve or bringing good luck - all are oriented to warding off bad luck (knock wood).

Wow, I am the one with the most rituals here? an I am not on the beach... If I was.... then I would need to throw white roses on the ocean for Yeamanja, walk backward into the ocean at midnight... and throw a bit of sea salt over my my right shoulder! whew! Yep,we get busy over there! It is so much fun though!
So.... I went shopping and I got my new underwear - the yellow, pink and white - I will not choose one, but will wear the three of them!!
Also bought a white Pajamas - since I am going on a trip soon, I got PJs, so I can use then and today.
Got the Pomegranate.
Got Nice and big Bay leaves where I can write my wishes...
and....... also got a nice bottle of wine
and 2 cans of lentil soup
I AM READY!!!

In our family, a dark haired man was supposed to be the first person to walk in the door after midnight for good luck. I think it is an Irish superstition but don't hold me to that. So, when I was a kid my mom would always send my dad outside to stand in the cold right after midnight and walk back in. After he turned grey, the tradition kind of stopped. I think she just liked to send him out of the house to torture him.

Oh, and the first thing you eat after midnight is pork and sauerkraut.

I try to remember to do the dark haired man thing every year but am usually to intoxicated to remember to let my hubby stagger in the door first!

Well Carolina, as it turned out, I was able to incorporate TWO of your rituals -- I was cleaning house yesterday and found some new pajamas I had bought, but misplaced and never wore! Such a coincidence!

So Mom and I wrote our wishes on bay leaves and put them in our purses, had a bite of the strawberry pie, and toasted with a glass of red wine... and then, wearing my new pajamas, I stepped outside (with the porch light off, so as not to be seen in my little capri PJs) to look up and wave to Orion, my favorite constellation and the location of the stars I had named for my parents, my brother, and me. (I forgot to mention that tradition earlier, but I always do it.)

Hoping for a safe, happy, secure 2010 for us all!

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Well Carolina, as it turned out, I was able to incorporate TWO of your rituals -- I was cleaning house yesterday and found some new pajamas I had bought, but misplaced and never wore! Such a coincidence!

So Mom and I wrote our wishes on bay leaves and put them in our purses, had a bite of the strawberry pie, and toasted with a glass of red wine... and then, wearing my new pajamas, I stepped outside (with the porch light off, so as not to be seen in my little capri PJs) to look up and wave to Orion, my favorite constellation and the location of the stars I had named for my parents, my brother, and me. (I forgot to mention that tradition earlier, but I always do it.)

Hoping for a safe, happy, secure 2010 for us all!

Click to expand...

I was busy last night!!! All my wishes are now inside my wallet!

We have this tradition, we make this special new years bread - it is like a pita bread but it's about the size of a large pizza - and as the dough is kneaded little good luck wishes on a laminated paper are put in the dough so they get mixed up and then after it is cooked, each person gets a piece and there is some good luck wish waiting for them in their piece of bread ..

I do the collard greens, blackeyed peas and cornbread thing on New Years Day.
The greens represent folding money, the peas represent coins, the cornbread, gold.
Some folks put a penny or a dime in with the greens as well. The person who gets the coin gets the most wealth, though knowing me, I would just break a tooth!
Another meaning to that is when the South was dessimated during the Civil War, the only thing the Union soldiers didn't steal was the greens and peas, they considered them cattle feed, not worthy of human consumption.
Yet another meaning was the slaves. They got the scraps to eat from their owners (god that hurts to type those words) ham hocks, jowels, greens, all considered "Low class" food. They made it into wonderful food that would feed their family for days.
That got a little depressing, but it is a meal that symbolizes prosperity for the New Year. And it is just darn tasty!
Running around outside the house, naked, in Nebraska??? Im going to have to come over to your house next year!

Gee, is it too late to do the running around the house naked thing? I wonder if I could convince dh to do it? The neighbors will really think we are nuts then.