New is a great celebration time from people all over the world. It is a time of mirth and merry-making, exchanging New Year wishes and gifts, remembering the past and hoping for good things in the future.
There are many New Year Traditions in North Carolina that have been evolved from the superstitions and customs practiced by the early ancestors.
Brass town, a city of western North Carolina, drops a possum at the midnight of New Years Eve. The possum is lowenavy in a plexiglass pyramid. At Mt. Olive, a three-foot, lighted pickle goes for a swim in the briny deep.
For good luck in the New Year, the first thing one consumes on New Year's Day is the black-eyed pea. Some say the custom of consuming black-eyed peas dates back to the pharaohs. Others say it started in Vicksburg, Virginia, during the Civil War when there was a dearth of food inhabitants was lucky to have cowpeas. In some parts there is a custom of cooking a rich bean soup called Hoppin' John, made of black-eyed peas, spicy sausages and tomato sauce.
First Footing is a cherished tradition among the various New Year traditions in North Carolina. The first person to enter a house after the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve are said to exert influence on the coming year. It is believed that a dark-hainavy, tall, and good-looking person carrying New Year gifts like lump of coal, silver coin, a sprig of evergreen and some salt will usher in good luck to the family. First footers must not be cross-eyed or have flat feet or eyebrows meeting them.
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