01/01/2024
Happy New Year!
New Year’s Day traditions from the Ozarks include:
•Opening Windows: A little bit before midnight on New Year’s Eve, open some windows for a few minutes to let the bad luck out from the past year.
•Auspicious Visitors: in the Ozarks, we have our own version of "first footing" --The first visitor you have on New Year’s Day will determine the kind of year you’ll have. If the person is cheerful, you’ll have a good year. If they’re cross, your year will be bad. If the person is lazy, your garden won’t do well that year. If you get an unexpected visitor, you’ll have folks dropping by unexpectedly throughout the year. If you have a large group of visitors, it’s a good omen.
•No Laundry: If you wash clothes on New Year’s Day, you wash out your luck, or wash away a family member. It will also cause you to have to do hard work all year. Some folks extend this idea to all washing and cleaning, making sure it’s all done before New Year’s Day.
•Keeping Things in the House: Don’t take anything out of the house on New Year’s Day, lest you lose your luck and prosperity. If you do have to bring something out, bring something in from outside to make up for it. It’s good luck for anyone coming into the house to leave something there.
•Saving Money: If you spend money on New Year’s Day, you’ll be spending money all year instead of saving.
•Worthy Pursuits: Whatever you’re doing on New Year’s Day, you’ll be doing all year. This is another reason to make sure household cleaning and washing is done the day before, so that you can spend this day doing more of the things you want in your life.
•The traditional Ozarks good luck meal is black-eyed peas, often with some kind of pork, and collard greens.
