12 grapes at midnight, black-eyed peas: Try these New Year's superstitions to ring in 2024

The stroke of midnight on New Year's is a cause for celebration around the world. "Happy New Year!" erupts from living rooms to parties to packed town plazas to ring in the new year.

Different cultures and countries celebrate the new year uniquely with traditions and superstitions to bring good luck and new opportunities.

Whether you're making sure to eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight or passing bowls of black-eyed peas and collard greens around the dinner table on New Year's Day, you're doing it for good luck in the new year.

What is the psychology behind superstitions?

Superstitions date back thousands of years, but over time superstitions have ingrained themselves into society, according to Delray Beach clinical psychologist Andrew Rosen.

"In very early times people believed that these acts (superstitions) actually could prevent disaster or the end of time," Rosen said via email. "The specific rituals differed from tribe to tribe or region to region, but all were clearly meant to prevent disaster."

Even as society has become more educated and realized superstitions were no longer "related to survival," they carried on through generations.

What are New Year's Eve superstitions?

Whether your goal is to travel more, find love or earn more money, there's probably a superstition you think can help you in 2024.

EATING 12 GRAPES AT MIDNIGHT

The tradition of eating the grapes and making a wish on each one originated in Spain.

There's debate about when the superstition began — whether in the late 19th or early 20th century — people have been eating their 12 grapes at midnight across the world, predominantly in Hispanic and Latin countries.

It is believed that eating one grape per clock chime will bring the person good luck in the new year, according to NPR. Each grape represents a month in the year.

EATING BLACK-EYED PEAS AND COLLARD GREENS

Eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is supposed to bring good luck and munching on collard greens is believed to bring financial prosperity, according to Southern Living.

SITTING UNDER A TABLE AT MIDNIGHT

Waiting for the clock to strike midnight while sitting under a table is believed to bring the person luck in their love life.

While the tradition can be traced back to Latin America, it gained popularity on the social media platform TikTok when users began sharing videos of them crouched under a table during at new Year's and sharing videos and photos of their partners.

DON'T CLEAN YOUR HOUSE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY

If you want a clean house going into the new year, tidy up on New Year's Eve and enjoy waking up to a clean house on New Year's Day.

In Chinese culture, it is believed cleaning your house on New Year's Day is bad luck, and by tidying up you will be washing away your good luck in the new year.

RUN AROUND WITH A SUITCASE

Got a case of the travel bug? Begin the new year by carrying around a suitcase at midnight.

Some iterations of the superstition call for walking around your block or carrying around the suitcase all day, according to Indy Star.

Originating in Colombia, the superstition follows that that doing this will bring the person more opportunities to travel in the new year.

WAKE UP EARLY ON NEW YEAR'S DAY

If your New Year resolution is to stop hitting the snooze button on your alarm, wake up early on New Year's Day, according to Cosmopolitan.

It might be hard to wake up early if you partied into the early morning, but Polish tradition suggests waking up early on New Year's Day will set you on track to easily wake up in the morning for the rest of the year.

WEAR RED, GREEN OR WHITE UNDERWEAR

In Latin America, part of the process to get ready for New Year's Eve is choosing the right underwear.

People believe in wearing red underwear to find love and romance, green underwear for health and white for peace in the new year, according to USA Today.

Whether you try one of these or all of these superstitions to ring in 2024, there's no harm in doing so according to Rosen.

"It is risky to start the New Year without the ritual. Who is so confident that they would take the chance?" Rosen asked. "Rituals are a way to feel some type of influence or control over the uncertainty of the future."

Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1429, or follow her on X (formerly Twitter) @gonthescene.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: 12 grapes, black-eyed peas: Different superstitions to ring in 2024