New Year's Day Superstitions

Today I wondered if half the people I talked to are living in the Middle Ages instead of in 2010. What's up with making decisions based off of superstition?

For example, I shouldn't have taken out the trash today. According to superstition, you're not supposed to get rid of anything on New Year's Day. Nothing, not even garbage, is supposed to go out of your house.

Um, that's dumb. I have a super sensitive nose so the trash HAD to go out, not to mention nothing else would fit in the garbage bag. It could not wait till January 2nd.

I also washed clothes and did some dishes. Unfortunately for me, a superstition exists that if you wash on New Year's Day one of your relatives is going to die in the new year. I hope that doesn't happen, but if it does, I'm not going to attribute it to my tackling a load of laundry and refusing to let dirty dishes sit in the sink all day.

Since all the "Clean Up" things are bad luck on New Year's Day, I wonder...is it bad luck that I washed my hair and took a shower today? Should I have just sat around and been stinky?

Maybe the folks who made up these superstitions needed an excuse for chillin' on the couch all day.

And as for food, you will never catch me eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day. I hate them so I'm not eating them on January 1 or any other day of the year. The Black-Eyed Pea Good Luck and Financial Fortune Fairy will have to pass my house up because they smell gross to me and do nothing for my taste buds.

I guess we'll just have to see how good or bad 2010 turns out for me. If it's not such a great year, maybe I'll eat black eyed peas next year.

What am I saying? No I won't. I hate them. I'll just have to be cursed!

Comments

nick said…
Ha, probably all those superstitions about not cleaning up were invented by men so they wouldn't need to bother! I have no time for superstition of any kind, if something makes no rational sense I ignore it. I always walk under ladders, carry on as normal on Friday 13th and if a mirror breaks all I do is sweep up the bits. Funnily enough, no dreadful tragedies have resulted.
April said…
I never heard of those superstitions about not throwing anything away on New Year's! Is ignorance a valid defense?
My dad made us black-eyed peas yesterday. They were so much better with peppers!
Remnants of U said…
I didn't know about not throwing anything away & or the superstition associated with it. And I always washed all my clothes etc. before the New Year, just so I would have all clean clothes to start the year. But trying to keep up with allll the superstitions could make one crazy. LOL!
Mes Deux Cents said…
I remember when I was a kid all the adults used to say that if a woman was the first to call you on New Year's Day that was bad luck. Have you heard that one? It never made sense to me.

And I watched the black-eyed peas on TV on New Year's Eve, I wonder if that will count for my good luck? Lol
Sharifa said…
These were all new to me. We didn't leave the house yesterday so there were several bags of trash piled up inside the door.
Sundry said…
Too funny! I never heard of those superstitions, either! If they're true, I'm in a lot of trouble myself!
Liz Dwyer said…
Nick,
I've usually had good "luck" on Friday the 13th - never any worse/better than any other day. But I do have certain things I do every day that are part of my routine and if I alter them it does cross my mind that maybe I'll have bad luck, but then I think about how silly it is to think that way.

April,
Ignorance is a very valid defense! My husband hates black eyed peas too, and my parents never made them so I'm spared on those fronts from eating them. Thank goodness.

Remnants,
I didn't know till I was talking to someone who was absolutely horrified I'd done laundry and thrown trash away. Just weird.

Mes,
I've heard that, too, and how some families rig it so that the first one to call or visit is a man. So sexist. - Were BEP on Dick Clark?

Sharifa,
Then that means you all will have good luck in 2010! Darn it, if only I'd left the stinky trash in the house.

Sundry,
So you threw out some stuff, did laundry and didn't eat black eyed peas? Yay, solidarity!
Mes Deux Cents said…
@Liz

I think it was Dick Clark. They performed from Las Vegas.

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