Today marks New Year’s Eve, and 2025 is just hours away from beginning.
In honor of the end of 2024, here are five traditions or superstitions to help you ring in the new year with a bit of good luck.
- Eat 12 Grapes: Originating in Spain, this tradition consists of eating a grape for each month. The tradition is often done as the clock strikes midnight with some going as far as to consume the grapes underneath a table. By doing so, good luck is expected throughout the year. The tradition has many stipulations with some warning that one must finish eating all 12 grapes before the clock turns to 12:01. Since its creation, the superstition has been adopted by a number of cultures, including Hispanic and Jamaican communities.
- Carry A Suitcase: Created in Colombia, this tradition has people walk around their home or neighborhood with an empty suitcase to attract a year full of travel. Through carrying an open suitcase, many consider it to be a sign for good luck. In some communities, celebrators fill the suitcase up with clothes they would plan to wear on vacation to manifest the coming of the trip.
- Eat Black-Eyed Peas: With roots in Africa, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas is part of a larger tradition of eating the Hoppin’ John Dish. The dish consists of Carolina rice, black-eyed peas, chopped onion and sliced bacon. The food is also served alongside collard greens and cornbread. While the black-eyed peas symbolize coin and financial gain, the greens represent money and the cornbread represents gold.
- Do a Deep Clean of The Home on New Year’s Eve: Originating from the Haitian Vodou religion, a deep clean of the home is thought to sweep out all of the negative energy the previous year brought into the home. Through cleaning, scrubbing and sweeping the house, these energies are changed and shift into a more positive energy, making way for more blessings and growth in the new year.
Testing.. testing.. 123! The ball is lit up and ready to GO for tomorrow 🪩 #RockinEve pic.twitter.com/aGZi1GwSaa
— New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (@RockinEve) December 30, 2024
- Open Up The Windows: Although the origins of this particular tradition are unknown, opening up the windows at the start of the new year has been adopted worldwide from the Philippines to Ireland. Through the act, a new breeze is thought to bring in new air to usher in new beginnings. While doing so, opening up the window can also release any bad luck or energy that has found a place in one’s home.
