Black eyed peas and circumcision…

Happy New Year!

My mother always told us that it is good luck to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s Day.  Let’s hope that is true.  It should also be good luck that last night was a Blue Moon and my first New Year’s Eve as a married woman!

According to Wikipedia (Side note:  I know that referring to Wikipedia is the equivalent to saying according to my neighbor Bob, but for whatever reason I still frequent that site), other New Year’s traditions include:

• The dropping of the peach in Atlanta
• Polar bear plunges aka groups of people plunging into freezing cold water (sometimes these events are organized to raise money for charity which I get but other than for charity I’m not sure why people would enjoy this)
• Feast of the Circumcision of Christ (WTF, what a horrible event to celebrate)
• In Europe, people make bonfires using their Christmas trees.  I like this idea a lot.
• In the Philippines, they celebrate using fireworks and other loud noises to scare away evil spirits and encourage their children to jump around because it was believed it would make you taller.

For more traditions or just plain crazy New Year’s Day facts, read the entire Wikipedia article.