Personally, I don’t have any New Year superstitions, but others in my family do. My parents have a glass of champagne, and my grandparents eat sauerkraut as a way to bring luck into the new year. Similar to my grandparents, Ava Norman and her family eat sauerkraut each year on New Year’s.
“Every year, my mother forces all my siblings and I to eat sauerkraut, and we have to eat like a handful of it, and it’s disgusting. We do it because my mother grew up doing it, from when my grandma created the superstition in my family. She doesn’t know why, but I guess it’s supposed to give good luck. I don’t believe that it gives good luck, and it’s a disgusting tradition,” said senior Ava Norman.
I do not partake in New Year’s superstitions solely because I have never believed in them, but junior Mason Shores does, even though he doesn’t know why.
“My New Year’s superstition is that we go outside and bang pots and pans together. It’s been a family tradition, but I’m not sure why we do it,” said junior Mason Shores.
Wheeling Park High School teacher Mrs. Redd takes part in multiple superstitions every year during New Year’s.
WPHS teacher Mrs. Redd said, “For New Year’s dinner, we always have black-eyed peas, sauerkraut, and pineapple. We also always have to have a Chinese dinner with fortune cookies before New Year’s hits. We do it because it’s always been really fun in my family, and it is also to bring good luck for the new year. It wouldn’t feel right if we didn’t do them. I believe in the New Year’s superstitions enough to do it each year, and don’t want to tempt fate.”
Foreign language teacher Mrs. Gonzalez, who is originally from Spain, tells us about a classic Spanish New Year’s tradition.
“We have the tradition of eating the 12 grapes. In my household, it is not a superstition; it’s just a way of perceiving having a good year. The 12 grapes are to represent the 12 months of the upcoming year. It’s to enter the year with plenty, and the grapes also mean the goodness of the land. Some people may be particular about the color of the grape, but we aren’t. We usually try to get ones that you can put in your mouth and have all 12 at the same time without choking. So we do it just for fun, and it’s just a tradition,” Mrs. Gonzalez.
