As I was scrolling through my social media accounts in the lead up to the new year, a few videos came into my feed warning me to not wash my clothes on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Why, you (and I) ask? Turns out, there are many superstitions surrounding New Year’s Eve and it is one of them.
Let’s break it down and some other old superstitions. Maybe if we follow them, we’ll be setting ourselves up for a nice 2026.
Don’t wash dirty clothes on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day
According to an American Old Wive’s Tale washing your clothes or even cleaning up your home on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day (there are some conflicting reports), literally washes away any good luck for the new year. Some even say that it could result in the death of a family member or loved one.
So, let’s skip laundry for a couple of days, shall we?
Don’t clear out your kitchen cupboards
Similarly to the warning about dirty laundry, there’s another Old Wives’ Tale that states that full cupboards bring abundance in the new year, whereas bare cupboards bring scarity. So, if you were planning on a new year’s clear-out of your pantry, hold off until 2 January. And maybe head down to the supermarket and stock up on pasta and beans.
Toss a chair out of your window
This sounds a little out-there, but like the previous superstitions, this practice is believed to aid people in welcoming new things, people, and experience into their lives. Out with the old and in with the new. So if you’ve ever been travelling around Italy and wondered why sop many people were throwing furnitiure through their windows on New Year’s Eve, this could be why (or they are redoing their interior furnishings in blantant contrast to our previous superstition). Just be careful when you are putting your furniture outside.
It’s unclear exactly when you can bring your furniture back inside…
Open your windows and doors
Just like the last superstition, this beliief is also linked to allowing new energy to enter your space, i.e. out with the old air and energy and in with the fresh air. A touch easier for us in the Southern Hemisphere as it’s summer. So, pay as thought to our brethern dealing with winter right now.
Embrace polka dots and circular foods
If you’re celebrating on New Year’s Eve with friends and loved ones, consider wearing a polka dot dress and serving pizza. According to a Filipino traditon, circles signify prosperity and wealth. If pizza’s not your trhing, why not opt for a bowl Japanese Toshikoshi Soba? The dish, which translates to year-crossing noodles, is traditionally consummed on New Year’s Eve to eas the passing into the new year.
With the cost of living crisis, there’s no harm in giving this one a go.
Don’t eat lobster
Did you know that lobsters walk backwards? Well because of that, it’s believed that if you eat them your life will go backwards aas well. If you still want to enjoy some seafood, opt for clams and mussels which open before you eat them (much more positive) and prawns, which are a symbol of good luck.
Do eat grapes
12 green grapes to be exact. One for each month of the year to bring on good luck. This tradition started in Spain and has since emigrated to Central and South America. It also featured in an episode of Modern Family when Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, played by actress Sofía Vergara, tries to get her husband to embrace the practice.
Put mistletoe on your pillow
This New Year’s Eve tradition/superstition comes from Ireland. In Celtic folklore, mistletoe is a symbol of fertility and love. So, by sleeping on sprig of mistletoe, which you might have around the house after Christmas, is meant to bring you good fortune in love in the new year.
Break dishes
This is a Danish tradition, and a sign of good luck and friendship. You’re meant to break plates on the door of someone’s home. So if you have a best friend nearby and you want to wish them luck in the new year, why not smash a dish at their door?
Be wary of your first visitors
In Scotland, the new year celebrations is called Hogmanay. The Scots have a superstition around guests called “first-footing”. The belief is that if a tall dark-haired man is the first to enter your home bearing gifts like whisky and fuel on New Year’s Day you will have good luck for the rest of the year. There are some caveats. For instance, they cannot be someone who has been at your home before midnight on New Year’s Eve. They must be a brand new visitor to your home.
Unfortunately, if your first guest on New Year’s Day is a woman (typical), or a fair-haired man, you could have bad luck for the year. It’s believed that this superstition stems from Viking invasions (despite anthropologists saying that Vikings actually had a lot of brunettes). Furthermore, the woman is believed to represent the “Cailleach”, the Celtic goddess of winter and death (in the Irish language which has many similarities to Scots Gaelic, a cailleach is a witch or crone).
