Wed Jan 01 10:58:32 UTC 2025: ## Don’t Clean House on New Year’s Day, or So Say Superstitions Around the World
**NEW YORK** – While many welcome the new year with parties and fireworks, some cultures hold strong superstitions about how to ensure good fortune in the coming year. According to various beliefs, cleaning your house on New Year’s Day could be a recipe for bad luck.
This superstition, prevalent in several cultures including some in Asia, suggests that cleaning on the first day of the year removes good fortune. Similar beliefs extend to discarding trash or laundry, with some extreme interpretations even associating these actions with the death of a loved one in the coming year. The belief’s roots can be traced to traditions like the Lunar New Year’s “sweeping of the grounds,” where thorough cleaning is done *before* the new year to remove bad luck, not during.
However, the global superstitions surrounding New Year’s Day are far more varied than just avoiding the vacuum cleaner. In Spain, eating twelve grapes at midnight—one for each chime of the clock—is believed to bring good luck, while in Denmark, smashing plates on friends’ doorsteps predicts the year’s fortune based on the number of pieces. Greeks smash pomegranates for abundance, while Brazilians attempt to jump seven waves at midnight for wishes. The classic New Year’s kiss in the U.S. also holds a place among these traditions of promising luck.
Even the iconic Times Square ball drop has roots in a centuries-old tradition of time balls used to signal the hour, originating in the 1800s as a way to inform the public of the time. New York’s version, initiated in 1907, replaced fireworks due to safety concerns.
So, whether you believe in these traditions or not, this New Year’s Day, you might consider delaying the cleaning until January 2nd just in case.
First Piper 