Some years ago an African American colleague and I discussed New Years traditions. She shared with me a tradition of getting a new broom at the beginning of a fresh year. I’d heard of “jumping the broom” as a form of marriage ceremony, but not of replacing brooms to welcome a new year. She was frankly horrified when I admitted how old my kitchen broom was.
Other friends and neighbors have shared traditions such as eating pork (specifically boiled spare ribs with sauerkraut) or pig-shaped cookies.
This year I’ve decided to welcome 2012 with a new broom. What are your New Years traditions?
Love this idea, and I think that I will make it mine, giving my adult children a broom after we return home (from this lovely vacation spot)! We have more Christmas traditions than new year’s. Mine seems to be making resolutions and then quickly breaking them!!
Great idea! I’m afraid my old broom has seen a few years also.
If I gave my wife a broom for New Year’s. . .
hahaha, thats funny! although i never owned a broom… 🙂
at home we used to burn the christmas tree at the last day of the year. i liked that as the fire would get so high, with sparkles (but it was in the house in the fireplace!).
and dutch people fry “balls of dough” (we call them oliebollen), with raisins and pieces of apple in it, and then sprinkled with powdered sugar. my mom would be baking and we would eat them shortly after they were done, yumyumyum, usually we would not have dinner as we would be full… hahaha. (wiki:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliebol)
We always had black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. My house guests from Colombia told me we had to eat 12 grapes at midnight, as the clock struck 12, making 12 wishes for the new year. It was fun.