Fun, Historic and Odd New Year’s Eve Traditions in American and Around the World

Americans celebrate each new year with a plethora of different traditions. Some of us attend parties with family and friends, some stay home and watch a party on the television with a climactic ball drop. At the stroke of midnight, we kiss a love one…Or a stranger, we sip champagne, we light off fireworks and/or call loved ones on the phone. On the first day of the new year we might eat black-eyed-peas or make a hard-kept, and easily broken, resolution. We do funny, meaningful, and old-style things that we believe are a normal part of ringing in the newest year, but did you know, folks around the world also have New Year traditions? Historically, traditions have an important role in our culture and most have a meaningful beginning. The following list is a little insight to the meanings of some New Year traditions at home and around the world. 

   

 
Kissing at midnight: An American based tradition. Kissing someone at the stroke of twelve on New Year’s Eve (or I guess it’d be New Year’s Day) has vague beginnings, but the meaning has stayed mostly the same . . . The person you plant a kiss on when the clock strikes midnight is the person you hope to be with all year long.

The color of your undergarments: A South American tradition. In some South American countries, the color of undergarments you chose to wear on New Year’s Eve could influence you’re the entire upcoming year. Pink brings love, red spreads passion, blue, health, yellow, prosperity; and white, peace and happiness. So, pick out those colored panties now . . . Oh, and the tradition dictates they be new!

Eating black-eyed peas: An American—specifically Southern—New Year’s Day tradition: Eating black-eyed peas will bring you good luck and prosperity in the new year . . . Says old Southern. The tradition of eating the legume has a few possible beginnings places the one I like best is when the Yankees pillaged the stores of southern farmers, they left behind black-eyed peas and pork rinds, thinking they were nothing more than animal fodder. When the farmers came back to what was left of their meager stores and found the black-eyed leas left behind, they were glad and thankful to have something to carry them through the winter. Thus, began the tradition of eating “hoppin’ john” each in remembrance of hard times and for good luck in the year to come.
        

Old Hoppin’ John recipe   
One large ham hock or pork rind
Four cups water
Two cups soaked (soak dried “peas” in water for 6-10 hours)
One finely chopped onion
Two chopped celery ribs
Salt and pepper to taste
Add all ingredients to Dutch oven or stew pot and bring to a boil. Simmer until black eyed peas are desired softness. Serve over rice with cornbread.




New Year's resolution: Although resolutions are most common in the Western Hemisphere the practice is also found in the Eastern Hemisphere. Making a resolution is a bit of a controversial tradition in our home. The New Year is a time of new beginnings, a time to examine the year past and look forward to the year to come and making a resolution for change is a good a not so good way to commence a kick start to your goals. Just don’t be disappointed if you break your resolution. Life isn’t about the mistakes we make . . . It’s about how we handle them. The practice of resolutions may have come from religious foundations. For example: At the start of each year, Babylonians made promises to their gods that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts. Romans made promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named. And during the Medieval era, at the end of the Christmas season, knights took a "peacock vow" to re-affirm their pledge to valor.

Do you practice a New Year’s Tradition? Something steeped in history or something innovative like the newer practice of choosing a word to represent the new year. Share with us what in the comments below, and if you chose a word for the year, please share that too.

May 2019 bring each of you happiness, health, prosperity, and love. Thank you for stopping by HHH we appreciate you all.

Happy New Year!
Michele 

Award winning author, Michele Morris’s love for historical fiction began when she first read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series. She grew up riding

horses and spending her free time in the woods of mid-Michigan. Married to her high school sweetheart, they are living happily-ever-after with their six children, three in-loves, and ten grandchildren in the sunshine state. Michele loves to hear from readers on Facebook, Twitter, and through the group blog, Heroes, Heroines, and History at HHHistory.com. She is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

Farewell 2016!

Post by Vickie McDonough...

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! 

We have a few blogger changes for the new year.

Sadly, Linore Rose Burkard and Ramona Cecil are leaving us. We've enjoyed their fabulous posts and will miss them.

Also, Janalyn Voigt is changing dates. She's moving from the 8th to the 20th, so catch her then.

Odd New Year's Resolutions:

Note: These are not my resolutions but ones I found on the Internet.

* Finish a Chap Stick

* Don't send a text to someone sitting in the same room

* Think up a password other than "password"

* I will run while juggling knives - um, don't really do this!

* I will give up chocolate totally - as if!

* I will eat more things like candy, Big Macs, popcorn, and ice cream and eat less junk like fruit, veggies, and soy nuts - tempting!

* I will stop exercising because it's a big waste of time

* I will wear a bear costume and tease the dancing bear

* I promise to stick to these resolutions for more than a week

A dog's New Year's Resolution:

* I will not chase the stick unless I see it leave my owner's hand

* I will not chew on my human's toothbrush and not tell him

* The sofa is not a face towel. Neither are my owner's pants

* The garbage collector is NOT stealing our stuff

* I will not bit the officer's hand when he reachers in for Mom's driver's license.

New Year's Quotes made by famous people:

* Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now the average...which means, you have met your New Year's Resolution.
     Jay Leno

* Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. 

     Helen Keller

* Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man--or woman. 

     Benjamin Franklin

* Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us. 

     Hal Borland

And because this post is supposed to revolve around history, here's a link to an interesting video about New Year's Eve and how it hasn't always been celebrated at the end of the year: Note: there is a short advertising before the video.

http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/new-years

What about you? Do you make resolutions? Do you know of a funny that someone has made?

Meet the seven Hart brothers of the 7-Heart ranch in central Texas. Each man is content in his independent life, without the responsibilities of a wife and children—until their father decides 1874 will be the year his grown sons finally marry, or they will be cut from his will. How will each man who values his freedom respond to the ultimatum? Can love develop on a timeline, or will it be sacrificed for the sake of an inheritance?

Bestselling author Vickie McDonough grew up wanting to marry a rancher, but instead married a computer geek who is scared of horses. She now lives out her dreams penning romance stories about ranchers, cowboys, lawmen, and others living in the Old West. Vickie is an award-winning author of more than 40 published books and novellas, and over 1.5 million copies of her books have been sold. Her novels include the fun and feisty Texas Boardinghouse Brides series, and End of the Trail, which was the OWFI 2013 Best Fiction Novel winner. Whispers on the Prairie was a Romantic Times Recommended Inspirational Book for July 2013. Song of the Prairie won the 2015 Inspirational Readers Choice Award. Her latest series, Land Rush Dreams, focuses on the Oklahoma land runs. Vickie has recently stepped into independent publishing.

Auld Lang Syne--Many Years Ago

By Naomi Rawlings

Auld Lang Syne is perhaps one of the most played tunes around the world on New Year's Eve. The lyrics come from a 200 year old poem written by Robert Burns (of "The best laid schemes o' mice and men" fame). Burns was the most famous of Scots poets, writing in the traditional Scots dialect, and has been hailed as a national hero by many Scotsmen and Scotswomen.

So what does the title Auld Lang Syne mean? Well, exact interpretations vary, though they all carry a similar meaning. "Old long since," "long, long ago," "days gone by" and "old times" are all possible meanings. The "cup of kindness" mentioned in the chorus refers to a drink shared between friends. Below you'll find an illustration of Auld Lang Syne by John Masey Wright and John Rogers.

Robert Burns claims to have written the "old, old song" down rather than created it himself. Indeed, some of his lyrics bear a striking resemblance to a ballad published at the beginning of the 18th Century, though some of them appear to be original. The tune comes from a traditional Scottish folk song, and the lyrics are as follows:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old lang syne?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!

and surely I’ll buy mine!

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine†;

But seas between us broad have roared

since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!

And give me a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

Here's Auld Lang Syne sung by Dougie Maclean, one of Scotland's most famous contemporary singers and songwriters. Some of the lyrics are in the original Scots dialect.

Do you sing Auld Lang Syne on New Year's Eve? When are some other times you think the song might be appropriate to sing? And did you have any idea the lyrics had been written by a famous poet?

From everyone here at Heroes, Heroines, and History, have a Happy New Year!

~.~.~.~.~

A mother of two young boys, Naomi Rawlings spends her days picking up, cleaning, playing and, of course, writing. Her husband pastors a small church in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, where her family shares its ten wooded acres with black bears, wolves, coyotes, deer and bald eagles. Naomi and her family live only three miles from Lake Superior, where the scenery is beautiful and they average 200 inches of snow per winter. She is looking forward to the release of her fourth novel, Falling for the Enemy, in January 2015. For more information about Naomi, please visit her website at www.naomirawlings.com.

Temperance Movement in the US

It’s funny how writers go from an idea to research to a story, but more than anything it’s fun for me to look back at some of the things I end up researching on my computer. Mostly I don’t think about it at the time. There’s information I need, and the internet has it. But let’s just hope the FBI hasn’t tapped my internet connection thinking I’m headed for mischief. Because I write so many genres, there’s no telling what I might be researching. Rat poison (even better how to kill someone using rat poison), Amish wedding traditions, the origin of the hamburger, and how many cops a town of 1500 should have. (On this last one, I still think they’re keeping tabs on me. lol)

But I ran across my research about the temperance movement the other day and since we are heading up on the biggest drinking holiday of the year, I thought I might share.

The Temperance movement began in the early 1800s. This is not to say

that people hadn’t been against drinking before this. The movement got them organized. At first the members only wanted to make people “temperate” in their drinking or to make them drink less. But by the 1820s they started advocating total abstinence, urging people to stop drinking completely. The movement was persuasive in helping pass laws that banned the sale of liquor in several states.

For the most part the movement was made up of women and their children who felt they had suffered from their husband’s/father’s drinking. Unfortunately most had. Keep in mind that women weren’t allowed in most of the drinking establishments. This further separated them from the men in their lives. Another fact that is very important: In many parts of the country very few beverages existed that didn’t contain alcohol. Often it was considered healthier to drink liquor of one sort or another instead of water, which was often unclean.

Temperance also connected many other reform movements that came up between

the American Revolution and the Civil War. Many of these movements created a renewed interest in religion. They called this The Second Great Awakening. The ministers of this awakening preached in an energetic and emotional manner, perhaps something like the charismatic preachers of today. But these intense religious experiences weren’t just for Sunday church meetings. Tents and open-air "revivals" were very influential in The Second Great Awakening. The American Society for the Promotion of Temperance (1826) was interdenominational. Thanks to the ties between religion and temperance there were around 6,000 local temperance groups by the 1830s.

People were inspired to make the world a better place. Or to at least try. Reform movements rose to improve all aspects of society: the rights of women, a call for the end to slavery, care for the mentally challenged, fair treatment of prisoners, and many others. Temperance was at the center of most of these reform movements because many of these reformers believed in abstinence. Through their work with temperance movement circles these reformers met and began to look for ways to improve other parts of society.

The temperance movement also produced a second reform era, Progressivism. This period was categorized by taking the efforts to reform society and pushing them one step further. Among others, these restructurings included women's right to vote as well as equal pay for women, birth control, child labor improvements, the eight-hour work day and environmental conservation.

A few interesting facts about the temperance movement:

When people took the pledge to stop drinking they joined what was called the "Cold Water Army."

The temperance movement wasn’t an American concept. There were also temperance movements throughout Europe at the time. 

Irish Temperance Movement

Notable figures associated with the U.S. temperance movement-- Susan B. Anthony, Frances E. Willard, and Carry A. Nation who worked largely by herself. 

Carry A. Nation

The temperance movement peaked when the 18th Amendment to the Constitution (Prohibition, 1919-33) was passed and ratified. 

But Prohibition was not a success and was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment.

The most well-known temperance effort in the modern day is Alcoholics Anonymous.

Regardless of your personal stand on alcohol, it is apparent that the temperance movement that began in the 19th century had lasting effects. 

Happy New Year, everyone! And if you go out to imbibe, please drink responsibly!