Luck-Bringing Beliefs

Clean the house and all mirrors on December 31st. Sweep away the dust in the air as well. Let your door stay open for a while after cleaning. Read about mirror placement from harikahayat.com, there is important information about luck there. A saltwater bath is beneficial for getting rid of bad energies and entering the new year clean. Before entering the new year, all dried flowers, non-working clocks, broken tools, especially a compass, should be removed from the house or repaired. Take out your trash before dark. After dark, taking out trash, money, especially loose change, from the house is considered bad luck. Place a kumquat miniature fruit tree and loose change in front of the south-facing window. In Anatolia, boiling wheat starts at 5 o'clock, wheat is a symbol of abundance and prosperity. Bulgur pilaf is also cooked for this purpose. Burn sage incense to cleanse your home of bad energies. Have stuffing vegetables and pumpkin in your kitchen. To call luck when entering the new year, bells are rung; some people interpret this as making noise and whistling, don't whistle. Also place live products like pumpkin and bell peppers to be stuffed at the entrance. Inanimate objects draw energy to come to life. New year decorations are always round objects meant to be filled. If you will decorate a pine tree, place it in the north. So that your home's abundance and prosperity are not given to anyone, sugar, flour, salt, and onion should not leave the house. Wearing red underwear, red is the color of kundalini and attracts luck. Light a real red candle. Fire burns evils and misfortunes. The color red gives love, affection, and happiness. The pine tree decorated for New Year's luck should be alive; a cut pine is just a symbol and does not bring luck. Pine trees are not planted on the south side. Among herbs, flowering lemon balm and mistletoe bring luck. Old items and antiques in the house are not considered lucky. I added those that are not there and what I know, I did not provide the information below. I wrote ring a bell instead of whistling. Whistling in the evenings is not considered lucky. During Hıdırellez and New Year celebrations, swings are set up in villages. Swinging is an Anatolian belief done to get rid of diseases.

  • Place a Pumpkin at Your Door Entrance. Bring it home on New Year's Eve. Let it cook at home in the evening.
  • In Chinese culture, keeping peonies at home when entering the new year – and throughout December when New Year preparations are made, especially on the night of December 31st – brings luck. In this culture, the peony is also a symbol of love; and also of feminine beauty...
  • If you want to have a lucky and prosperous year, you need to have this flower at home. It is also possible to use the peony flower as a decorative ornament on New Year's Eve. You can use the flowers themselves or display the leaves in an oval glass bowl filled with water to create a nice decoration.
  • But first, there are things you need to know about this flower. Peonies come in various colors, the red one brings luck in the new year. The color red means power.
  • Peony care
  • Their flowers, which bloom in white, pink, yellow, red, or lilac, stay open for at least a month and a half.
  • If your peony in a pot or garden wilts, you don't need to throw it away. It is possible to revive it by continuing to water without changing the pot.
  • If your peonies are cut flowers, we recommend placing them in a vase filled with water that is not too cold – at room temperature. You should also cut the long stems at an angle/curved. Not cutting the stems too short is also important for ensuring they bloom more.
  • Among the recommendations are changing the water every day or at most every two days, and occasionally adding white sugar to the water.
  • Peonies, like almost all flowers, do not like direct sunlight.
  • Mandarin tree (kumquat harikahayat.com — The fruit known as Doctor)
  • According to Chinese belief, another flower that brings luck in the new year and should be kept at home is the mandarin tree. Almost every Chinese home definitely has a mandarin tree. It is a symbol of good luck, that is. You can plant the mandarin tree in your garden if you wish. That is actually the desirable way, but if you don't have a garden, don't worry, there is also a bonsai-type dwarf version of these trees, 60 cm tall. However you enter the new year, the whole year passes like that. According to the Chinese, eating fish on New Year's Eve brings luck, abundance, and prosperity.

New Year Traditions

  • When starting a new year, people always want better things, so they enter the new year with brand new hopes. Therefore, things believed to bring luck, prosperity, or happiness on New Year's are done all over the world.
  • Enter the new year spotlessly clean
  • First of all, when entering the new year, spaces are cleaned, purified from dust and dirt, so as not to carry anything from the old one. This custom is a long-standing habit for all important days of the year. The cleanliness and purification of individuals and spaces from dirt almost carries a religious quality.
  • Welcome the new year with a festival of lights
  • Lighting lights everywhere is a New Year tradition among Indians. Candles are lucky symbols of New Year's because they shed light around them and bring happiness and joy.
  • Make children happy
  • Making children happy is in the tradition of all countries, the most well-known symbol is Santa Claus.
  • On New Year's Eve, there is definitely a red sock at the bedside of all children, and it is thought that Santa Claus never forgets to put candy in those socks while secretly distributing gifts. Of course, not in the socks of naughty children!
  • Wear new clothes
  • It is believed that wearing new clothes on New Year's Day will bring new clothes throughout the year. Especially, wearing red is believed to represent happiness and a bright future.
  • When the clocks reach midnight...
  • The first kiss of the new year
  • If you enter the new year by kissing and hugging your loved ones, your love will last all year!
  • Laugh out loud
  • To have a joyful and lucky year, laugh out loud when the clocks strike midnight!
  • Dance outdoors
  • Entering the new year by dancing around a tree outdoors brings happiness and prosperity.
  • Open the doors
  • When the time is exactly midnight, open all the doors and windows of your house. Let all the bad memories of the past year leave your home...
  • Take an empty suitcase and walk around the house
  • Cubans put on new clothes, take an empty suitcase in their hands, and walk around, take a tour inside the house on New Year's Day. They believe this will provide them with plenty of travel opportunities in the new year.
  • Break a pomegranate at your door
  • In Greek mythology, when entering the new year, when the clocks strike midnight, a pomegranate is broken on the doorstep. It is believed that the pomegranate burst at the outer door will bring prosperity, luck, and abundance to the house.
  • Hang talismans in front of your door
  • When welcoming the new year, Japanese people hang a rope in front of their doors or a bunch of straw on their doors both to ward off evil spirits and to bring happiness and good luck.
  • Mistletoe brings luck; mistletoe, considered a "cure-all" in all cultures, has also been considered lucky and magical in mythology, offered to gods in all kinds of ceremonies. Today, kissing under mistletoe on New Year's is derived from this.
  • Make noise
  • In Australia, they welcome the new year by making noise accompanied by whistles, horns, and church bells. New Year's feast exists in all cultures.
  • Instead of saying "Welcome" to the new year, Japanese people who say "Goodbye" to the old year ring a bell 108 times on the night of December 31st, driving away 108 kinds of troubles and worries. Also, after the bells finish ringing, everyone laughs out loud to drive away evil spirits and believes that a new year full of luck will come.
  • To ward off evil, to leave it in the past year, bells or rattles are hung somewhere in the house, usually on the door, on New Year's. Thus, with the opening and closing of the door, the bells will ring and evil cannot enter.

Lucky Foods

Lucky foods

In the new year, tangerines and oranges are passed from hand to hand. Because according to them, tangerine represents luck, and orange represents wealth. Grapes bring wealth, prosperity; pomegranate brings abundance and plenty.

"Black-eyed peas" eaten on New Year's bring luck. Lentil grains are considered lucky because they resemble money. In many countries of the world, rice and lentil dishes are made as New Year's meals. In Anatolia, bulgur pilaf or hedik.

Legumes symbolize money because they grow when cooked. Ashure, one of the traditional desserts of Turkish cuisine, also represents abundance. Beans, black-eyed peas are considered lucky.

Luck-Bringing Desserts

Round-shaped desserts are considered lucky because they complete their cycle. It is also believed that donuts, marzipans, the Italian chiacchiere, the Dutch ollie bollen, and a piece of gold placed inside cakes will bring luck to the finder. Germany Lebkuchen, Dominostenie, sweets in the shape of a pig made of marzipan.

The Mexican rosca de reyes, the Greek vasilopita cakes are also New Year's luck charms prepared in the shape of round rings and with surprises hidden inside. In some cultures, almonds are placed in the baked desserts instead of gold, and it is believed that whoever finds it will have luck throughout the year.

Eat exactly 12 grapes at midnight

Before the clocks strike midnight, everyone prepares 12 grapes and eats them exactly at midnight. Spaniards and Brazilians believe that grape grains washed with wine symbolize 12 happy months in the coming year. Peruvians also eat 13 grapes just in case. Throwing water out the window, throwing and breaking plates.

Germans pour lead into cold water and look at their New Year's fortunes. They leave half of the meal for the new year so their share does not decrease.

Some of the superstitions are not to pronounce the numbers 8 and 168 that night. Since the number 4 also represents death, nothing should be four. If there are 4 people in the house, place a 5th plate on the table. It is said one should not buy a book on the first day of the new year. It symbolizes losing books.

The first guest who comes to you in the new year determines your luck for a year. The arrival of a pre-adolescent boy is considered lucky. This guest should not be invited.

  • Mexicans wear red underwear in the new year to bring love and marriage, and yellow underwear to bring money. Pregnant women wear pink underwear.
  • In Anatolian culture, there is wearing a headscarf. Those who want a girl child wear a pink scarf, those who want a boy wear a blue one.
  • Filipino children jump to welcome the new year to grow tall.
  • Giving a watch, compass, and dried flower as a New Year's gift is considered bad luck.

    • All these traditions are practiced differently in every country, but all people actually have one goal; to spend a new year happily, healthily, and prosperously with their loved ones.

    I compiled this for informational purposes, not for you to do them.

    May Your Luck Be Plentiful!

    I wish the new year brings health, happiness, joy, success, abundance, prosperity, love, and peace to you and all your loved ones. Happy New Year!