A Look At Some New Year's Eve Traditions, From Quirky To Heartwarming
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Many New Year's Eve traditions are well known – from watching the ball drop in Times Square to a lower-key night with the three D's – drinks, dancing and dinner.
But as CBS2's Scott Rapoport reported, plenty of people have a variety of other New Year's Eve traditions – many of them veering toward the quirky side.
"I usually cook duck in champagne," one woman said.
"I grow my beard starting on Thanksgiving every year, and shave it off on New Year's Day," said Adam Fields of the Upper West Side.
"Another weird tradition is we take an onion. We hang it over the door," a man said, "and then if you have a young kid, in the morning, you just slap him on the back – that's how you wake him up, with the onion."
Doreen Mocha had a simple tradition.
"My New Year's tradition is to go to bed early, get a good night's sleep , get up tomorrow and hope I can live another year," she said.
Food plays a big part of New Year's Eve traditions and superstitions in many cultures. Among the significant foods are black-eyed peas, collard greens, and grapes.
"In my family, we have the 12 grapes," one woman said.
"Latinos, we like to bite on grapes when it hits 12 o'clock," another woman explained.
And good luck is associated with the practice.
"If you eat the grapes on the New Year, then that means like a lot of wealth and travel for the future," said Irene Soto of the Upper West Side.
Markie Gayles of San Francisco dines on pork, black-eyed peas and greens.
"The greens are for money. The black-eyed peas are for good luck," Gayles said. "I forgot what the pork represents."