It’s page 1 of 365! A blank one to put whatever you want to on it. Let’s make it a good one as we step into the New Year with hopes, dreams and unfulfilled wishes. May it all come true!
Dear Past:
Thank you for all the lessons you taught me. Not all of them were good but they had to be learned.
Dear Future:
I am ready to embrace whatever is coming my way! However, if I want to run back to my old ways, please drag me to the water and make me drink from it!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
Here’s how to start the New Year on the right foot. These traditions from around the globe according to Afar.com shows you how the rest of the world welcomes the new year in.
Eating lucky foods is one way to do it. Most of Latin America eats 12 grapes or raisins on New Year’s Eve. Italy, on the other hand, eats 12 spoonfuls of lentils – one with each of the 12 chimes of the clock at midnight. The French eat a stack of pancakes. The Germans prefer marzipan shaped like a pig for good luck and in the Netherlands people eat doughnuts and ring shaped food. In the U.S., it’s collard greens and black-eyed peas.
In the Phillipines, the Filipino community believes that wearing round shapes like polka dots promotes prosperity and good luck. Eating round fruits like oranges, grapes, watermelon and pomelos counts as well.
In Brazil, wearing white on New Year’s Eve symbolizes peace and spiritual cleansing. At midnight, everyone runs into the water to jump over seven waves, each wave represents resolutions or hopes for the New Year.
If you want a year filled with travel and new experiences, do what the Mexicans do. They walk around with an empty suitcase or they take a full lap around the block with their empty luggage. Worth a try?
In Cuba, people gather all of the bad spirits and negative energy from the past 365 days and toss them out the front door. You’ll see buckets full of dirty water flying out of homes during the countdown to midnight. Just don’t get any splashed on you, if you know what I mean. Actually, I’m thinking of trying this one myself!
Podariko is a Greek custom where they hang pomegranates in their households and this is thought to bring good luck. Just before midnight, they shut off the lights and leave the house and then one lucky individual is sent to reenter the house but with the right foot first. A second person will smash the pomegranate against the door with their right hand. The more juicy seeds that spill out, the more luck the new year will bring.
In Russia, they use 12 seconds of silence before the stroke of midnight to make wishes.
In Denmark, the Danes will jump off a chair or sofa literally jumping into the new year! Good luck if you do and bad luck if you don’t.
The Italians and the Spanish take it to another level. They all wear red underwear for luck. Now, you know what’s under the clothes they’re wearing!
In Japan they feast on prawns believed to bring a long life and herring roe to boost fertility. Hmm….
The Irish bang the outside walls of their houses with bread to keep away bad luck and evil spirits. Why bread? Ask them.
There you have it, some of the traditions used to welcome the new year in. I’ll add one more. I was married to a German and my ex mother-in-law used to cook a big pot of pork ribs with sauerkraut and black-eyed peas for days on end before New Year and she swears that eating it on New Year’s day brings good luck. I used to eat it simply because that was the main dish for New Year! Did it bring luck? Your guess is as good as mine!
HAPPY NEW YEAR folks with whatever traditions you use to bring the New Year in. Let’s hope this next year will be a good one and that’s what matters.
Have an amazing day.
Should old acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot
In the days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne
I never quite understood what the lyrics are trying to say but each year when the year rolls to an end, we raise our glasses to this time-worn and popular song as if our lives and the new year depended on it AND bid Adieu to the year that will soon become a memory as the new year takes its place.
It is tradition some may say but there are also other traditions. How about those well-meant resolutions that we painstakingly jot down meaning every word of it only to let it gather dust in some dusty corner of your desk or room. Or if you’re like me, I have every intention of working on every single one of them but as the year comes to a close, I realize I’ve managed to keep up with only half of them. What about the other half? Well, they’re left forgotten or if I’m honest enough, too difficult to even take it a quarter of the way!
Let’s see. This year has been one of ups and downs. I’ve managed to keep a hold on what is necessary to move forward by working on myself. What does that mean? I’ve been using the three-pronged attack method but before you rush off to Google this, it is something I came up with myself. The three are your mental, physical and emotional health. I’ve taken my physical and mental self to task. Daily walks, meditation, deep breathing, workouts and writing not to mention a few visits to the beauty salon to keep that skin glowing have all helped with mental acuity and to keep my physical form in the best shape ever. What about the cheesecake fetish? Well, I should have added a few more pounds on my small frame but the workouts and the walks have done wonders in that respect. However, cheesecake is on the chopping block for the new year!
The emotional side has been harder. I’ve had to cut ties with some people who did not or were not contributing to my overall well-being. I had to let go of what did not serve me in order to find out what does. It was hard but I need to trust in the process and believe that doing so is to my best interest. I’m worthy, worthy of respect, love and friendships of a better variety.
No, this year did not bring me the “love” I was looking for but it did teach me that not everyone brings love into your life. Some come to teach you that there is a “better” out there. A better someone who will respect , love and accept you for who you are and that’s worth waiting for.
So, this year has been an eye-opener. I know that I’m set in my ways and as stubborn as a mule at times. I know I need to set my standards a little lower and not to take on losing battles. I know that I need to be grateful for all the lessons I’ve learned this year and as I move on to the next, those same lessons will help to catapult me to a “NEW YEAR” filled with possibilities, love and most of all peace I HOPE.
WISHING ALL OF YOU AND TO MY READERS (you are much appreciated) A NEW YEAR FILLED WITH WONDROUS POSSIBILITIES.!
Have an amazing day.
Site Title 