The Twelve Posts of Christmas - Day Eleven: New Year's Day - A Day Of Superstition.

 

It was New Year’s Day, sometime back in the late 1960s, and my school football shirt was dirty and needed cleaning. I had a big game coming up, and I only had one decent football shirt. In my schoolboy mind, it was a matter of urgency.

I asked my mother if she could put it in the washing, as I needed it as soon as possible. I expected that it would soon be washed and ready again.

“No, not today,” she replied.

“Why?” I asked, surprised.

It seemed to me to be a reasonable question, as she always seemed to be doing some washing. There was a never-ending supply of laundry that needed to be washed. Why not today, I wondered? 

“I’ll tell you why,” she replied. “It’s New Year’s Day, and you don’t do any laundry today, as it will bring bad luck.”

“What bad luck?” I wanted to know.

“If I do it today, it will bring bad luck. That’s what they say. Have you not heard of washing a loved one away? You don’t want that to happen, do you?”

Now, I didn't want that to happen, but surely washing my football shirt was not going to cause a death in the family?

The superstition that doing the laundry on New Year’s Day could result in the death of a family member is one that is widely held. Many seem to believe it, or at least observe it, and for some it is extended to not doing any house cleaning on New Year’s Day.

It is not clear where this superstition actually came from, but it is one of many that are associated with the arrival of the new year.

Here are a few more.

The midnight kiss: The belief is that sharing a kiss with your partner at the stroke of midnight will bring good luck and strengthen the relationship for the next year.

The New Year kiss: kissing anyone on the stroke of midnight will result in good luck, a new beginning, and good fortune.

And in the southern states of the USA, eating black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year’s Day will bring good luck and good fortune in the year to come.

The superstitions are all associated with luck, either good or bad, depending on your actions.

There are many other myths, superstitions, and traditions associated with the change from one year to the next. Whether you think it is real or hocus-pocus, they carry on into modern times.

I don’t know if my mother actually believed it or just observed it, but for as long as I can remember, she would never do any washing on New Year’s Day.

My football shirt was not washed that New Year’s Day.

 

 

Image by Stefan Schweihofer from Pixabay