We know in our heads that the New Year is just a date on the calendar, the first date, actually, and holds no astronomical or religious significance. But we still have many superstitions around that date, most involving food. We know that hog jowl, collard greens, and black-eyed peas bring good luck in the new year, but did you know there are also superstitions about foods that will bring bad luck?
There's an entire list of foods that portend a bad year if eaten on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, and many of them are meat. You shouldn't eat crab or lobster because these creatures move in odd ways. A lobster can walk backwards, and a crab scuttles sideways. Eating them could mean that you can't move forward in the next year. The same justification holds for beef and chicken because of the way those animals move. So you might want to go meatless or stick to pork for the holiday. There are also food superstitions around the color or the state of certain foods, varying by nation. Read up on eight foods to avoid for a prosperous 2025 at Mental Floss.
(Image credit: Matt Johnson)
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