Every family has some tradition or superstition. As a kid, I never really thought anything about it. The family does it, so that’s what I’ll do too. Becoming an adult, I looked back and wondered, why did we do this?
For as long as I can remember, on New Year’s Eve, and on Christmas Eve, mom lit a Bayberry Candle. She said she remembers her grandma doing it when she was little, and searching the internet, it seems like it was quite common in the Appalachia region, and considering my family come from the hills of West Virginia, this tradition makes sense. From what I’ve gathered, it seems that candles made from animal fats and other substances smelled funny and didn’t burn as nice. Bayberries were discovered, and they make a pleasant-smelling candle that burns clean, but it takes so many berries to process into one candle, that those candles were kept for special occasions, hence the reason they are burned on the holidays. There are poems and prayers that go with the candle, which I never knew about until I started to search.
Keeping the Christmas tree up until after New Year’s Day is another tradition. Mom always said it was bad luck to take it down early. I see now, that keeping up the tree until January 6th is a common theme, to celebrate Three King’s Day.
We always make cookies the week of Christmas, I mean, Santa NEEEEDS cookies.
Of course, no New Year’s Day is complete without Pork and Sauerkraut. The family has some German roots, and some sources on the internet say that pork is chosen because a pig roots forward and moving forward in the new year is a good thing.
We always open a present on Christmas Eve, and for my kids, it has always been new pajamas, so we don’t look like a complete mess when we take pictures on Christmas Day.
The past few years, we’ve celebrated the Icelandic tradition Jolabokaflod (The Christmas Book Flood). They celebrate on Christmas Eve, staying up in bed with a book and chocolate. Since we already have a Christmas Eve tradition, instead, we get new books and chocolate on the Winter Solstice, to celebrate Yule.
I’m not sure all of this worked the past few years for good luck considering the pandemic, but they are the things the kids will remember when they become adults. I know those are the memories that I remember the most.
