Salt for Luck: It’s an old Ozark tradition to make sure you fill up all your salt shakers and containers on New Year’s Eve. Salt is life, after all. Entering into the New Year without any salt is bad luck indeed! Some Ozarkers will make sure to always buy a brand new container of salt on New Year’s Eve then add this to any old salt they already have in the kitchen.

No Chores! It’s seen as very bad luck to do any chores on New Year’s Eve and Day both. This mostly applies to washing clothes and cleaning. It’s said that if you wash clothes or clean the house on New Year’s Eve or Day you will wash away all your luck for the New Year. Take some time to rest and have fun! Leave the dishes and vacuuming for January 2nd.

Take Nothing Out: Take nothing out of the house New Year’s Eve or Day. It’s said if you take out even the garbage, you’re taking out all your good luck for the New Year. Instead you can bring good things inside the house, like things that represent luck and prosperity, to bring in good luck. It’s traditional to bring in fruits, nuts, sweets and other food items for luck.

Make a Ruckus: An Ozark tradition is to go outside at midnight on New Year’s Eve and make a ruckus to scare bad luck and evil spirits away from the home. In modern times, folks like to shoot off fireworks but in the old days, banging pots and pans together or ringing bells did the trick just fine. Ring in the New Year with a little noise and a lot of love.

Light the Home: Start off the New Year right by lighting candles and lamps inside the home. This symbolizes light in the dark time of the year. Make a wish for the New Year as you light your candles. And don’t blow them out! Snuff out these candles as it’s believed that if you blow them out you’ll blow away all the wishes you just made for the New Year.

Peas and Greens: A traditional meal on New Year’s Day is black-eyed peas and cooked greens. Three different greens is traditional, but you can use whatever you’ve got on hand. In Ozark folklore, beans and peas represent prosperity, being food items that can seed themselves. Greens sprout up out of the ground even in winter and symbolize vitality.

Lucky Dimes: Place a dime under your plate of black-eyed peas and greens for good luck all year long. After the meal, the dimes are traditionally collected from all the plates then left at the gate of a graveyard as votive offerings for the dead and the ancestors. Alternatively, in the old days, folks also used to spend their dimes on January 2nd to buy some treats.