Every New Year’s Eve, many people observe traditions they believe will bring good fortune and mark a fresh start. From eating specific foods to cleaning their homes or making wishes, these customs aim to shape the year ahead. The real question is: what do these traditions mean for people who partake in them?
Eating 12 grapes on New Year’s Eve is a common tradition that symbolizes good fortune for each month and is done in numerous households. “My family, we eat grapes at midnight, whenever the New York ball drops,” freshman Abby Rubio said. Doing this custom reassures Rubio about how the new year is going to turn out because it gives her a sense of security. “One year, we were eating our grapes as usual, and my dad had eaten a lot of food before, so he didn’t finish his last grape; there was only one left,” Rubio says. “Later in the year, in November, he broke his leg.” She believes that the singular round fruit brought bad luck. Rubio also expresses her idea on superstitions, “I feel like it’s a mindset more than it being real. If you have the idea in your mind, you can kind of manifest that it will happen.”
A superstition doesn’t have to be world-renowned. It can simply be an activity you can enjoy with friends or family. Freshman Juliana Picazo explains her family tradition of playing Loteria—a Mexican game similar to bingo. “We play it because it’s a fun way to bring in the new year and our family connections together. Doing this makes me feel happy because we don’t hang out much anymore, but it’s a way to start our year.” This constant in her life gives her something to rely on because she knows the memories—and the ones to be created—will always be there within her superstition.
Even people who don’t focus on specific superstitions still use a mindset to show up as the best version of themselves. “I think no change comes without looking back, and that the new year makes people naturally reflective,” teacher Bailey states. “We take a moment, and we look back over the year, and we think, this is good or this didn’t work out, and here are changes that I want to make.” She describes it as beneficial in some cases to reflect so that past perspectives can be rearranged into new ones. Bailey leaves us with a final message: if you really want to embrace change, “Start today.”
