How to Ensure your New Year is Happy

Most of the traditions connected with New Year's Eve and New Year's Day could be summed up in a single sentence: “What you do is what you'll get”. In many cultures, what you do for the first hour of the New Year signifies what you’ll do the most of for the next twelve months! (Does sleeping count?) Here are fifteen of the most common superstitions.

1. Working hard on New Year’s Day will ensure a whole year of grueling labor! But if you do a small token task successfully – something related to your employment – this will set the tone for achievement. (I'm definitely planning to write something!)

2. If the house is clean by midnight on Dec. 31st, it’ll be clean for the entire next year. (Do I have to sort the closets too?) Don't sweep on New Year's Day or you'll sweep out all your good luck! Don't do dishes or laundry either or you'll "wash away" a member of your family in the coming year.

3. If all your pockets and purses and wallets have coins and dollars in them by midnight, you’ll have plenty of money in the new year. Holding a piece of gold or silver in your hand at the stroke of midnight will also bring prosperity. Some people place coins on windowsills and the tops of doors too.

4. If you wear new clothes on New Year’s Day, more new clothes will come your way. (Does that include purses and shoes?)

5. No crying, fighting, arguing, name-calling or general negativity on New Year’s Day or you’ll have strife and tears all year long.

6. Don’t let valuable things leave your house on New Year’s Day or luck and fortune will go with them. The general belief refers to things like money and jewelry, but some people believe that nothing – not even garbage! – should leave the house on New Year’s Day. Take the empties to the recycling bin some other time!

7. Make sure the cupboards and pantries are full on New Year’s Day, in order to ensure abundance the rest of the year.

8. In many countries, it's believed that all debts should be settled before the New Year. Don’t pay back loans or lend money on New Year’s Day however, or you’ll be paying out all year long!

9. Be careful with the dishes. If anything breaks on New Year’s Day, ill luck will follow. And if you break a mirror, the bad luck will be doubled. None of this applies, however, if you're Danish. They save up dishes all year to throw at the doors of their friends and neighbors. At the end of New Year's Day, the higher the pile of broken crockery on your front step, the more loyal friends you have.

10. Working on New Year’s Day will ensure a year filled with grueling labor. But if you do a small token task – something related to your employment – successfully, it’ll set the tone for achievement in the coming months.

11. Kissing at least one person at midnight ensures that love, friendship and affection will continue. To not give out a kiss indicates a long, cold and lonely year. (That’s dire – I’d kiss both my pugs to avoid a fate like that!). Kissing your spouse or your fiance is even better, ensuring that you'll live in love and happiness during the entire year to come.

12. When midnight approaches, open all the windows and doors to let the Old Year leave. In some traditions, just opening one window or door will work. Releasing the Old Year makes room for the New Year. In Puerto Rico, people toss buckets of water out the windows to help to clean out the old year.

13. Bad luck and evil spirits must be driven away in order to make room for good fortune. This belief is at the root of using noisemakers to welcome in the New Year. The more noise you can make, the better. In early pioneer America. the firing of guns into the air was practiced. Church bells are often rung at midnight in many countries for the same reason.

In Iran, pots and pans are banged together. And the Chinese can be thanked for introducing fireworks to New Year's celebrations to chase away demons and bad fortune. In Wales, singing door to door does the job. My favorite is an Irish tradition which calls for banging on the walls and doors with Christmas bread to frighten evil spirits and invite good ones into the house. (Finally - a good use for that fruitcake!)

14. What you eat is said to influence your fortune for the coming year. It's lucky to eat black-eyed peas, and some say that one pea equals a coin you'll receive. Lentils will work too. But eating cabbage or other leafy greens might be more efficient – they're said to represent bills! Round foods are often synonymous with prosperity. In Spain and Portugal, they eat 12 grapes as the clock chimes midnight, ensuring 12 good months to come. Foods that form a circle or a ring, such as doughnuts, are popular in Europe. (Homer Simpson would like this one) The shape signifies that the year has come full circle and is now complete.

15. In keeping with the "getting rid of the old to make way for the new", residents of Ecuador burn pictures of things they don't want. Each family also creates a scarecrow or puppet which is called the "Año Viejo" or Old Year. Lists of problems and worries might be stuffed inside the effigies, as well as newspaper, wood and sawdust. Setting fire to these effigies is said to destroy any bad things that may have happened over the twelve months. Jumping over the fire brings extra luck. Versions of this practice can be found in other cultures as well. Burning the old calendar is popular almost everywhere.

Wishing all of my readers a happy, healthy and profitable New Year!

Dani Harper
http://www.daniharper.com/

Your turn - What traditions did you grow up with? Have you heard of any that aren't listed here?

Creepy Christmas Superstitions

Last week's Christmas Superstitions included The Good, the Bad and the Scary. This week’s installment brings you some traditions that are downright creepy! They may not be true, but there's bound to be at least a couple that will give you a chill just the same.

Dogs that howl on Christmas Eve will go mad before the end of the year. A candle or a lamp should be kept burning all night on Christmas Eve to avoid a death in the house in the following year.

Instead of water turning into wine at midnight on Christmas Eve, some hold the belief that the water in streams and wells turns into blood! Not only that, if you witness this change, you’ll die within the year!

A Scandinavian belief maintains that it's dangerous to go out on Christmas Eve because of the many supernatural beings that come out of their hiding places that night. Trolls, witches, goblins and ghosts are said to roam freely, including the spirits of the dead revisiting their previous homes. Gifts must be left outside – bowls of pudding and cream, clothes, tobacco and even ale – in order to appease some of these creatures. The most perilous time occurs between cock’s crow and dawn, when supernatural beings are at the peak of their power. To go outside means risking death or being carried off by them, never to be seen again.

Swedish folklore puts a chilling twist on this story. On Christmas Eve, they prepare their dining room with food and ale and blazing fire – and leave it overnight to enable the spirits of the dead to celebrate undisturbed. The family checks the chairs in the morning for traces of earth, proof that the dead have come calling!

Icelandic children lived in fear of being eaten by bloodthirsty ogres living in the mountains. The most ferocious of these was Mother Grýla, who wandered through the village at Christmastime with her evil cat.

Instead of leaving out cookies for Santa, gifts and food had to be left out to appease the ogres. If they didn't like the offerings, they'd eat you. And if you didn't have at least one brand new article of clothing in honor of the season – the cat would eat you!

A once popular parlor game gave everyone an apple after dinner, which was then cut in half across the middle to reveal the pattern of the core. If the core is star-shaped (most apples have this), the owner of the apple will see another Christmas. If the core is a different shape, the owner’s death will occur in the next twelve months! The appearance of a four-pointed cross was worst of all – although what was worse than death is never mentioned.

Parlor games in Victorian England also included telling ghost stories by the fire, while keeping tabs on everyone’s shadow throughout the evening. If anyone’s shadow were to appear headless, that person would die within the coming year.

While most cultures consider it lucky to be born on Christmas, others definitely do not. In Greece, any child born during the 12 days of Christmas is in danger of morphing into a kallikantzaroi, a malevolent half-animal, half-human monster that lives underground most of the year. Such a creature will almost certainly devour his own brothers and sisters!

In Romania, Poland and Moldova, a child born on Christmas Day may become a werewolf. A different variation on this tale is that any child conceived during Advent (when parents apparently were supposed to abstain from such activities) was almost certainly doomed to become a were-animal by the time they reached adulthood. In some Slavic regions, a child be born anywhere between Christmas and Ephiphany will surely become a vampire after death.

To avoid bad luck, all Christmas decorations should be taken down by Candlemas (Feb. 2). However, make sure you clean up after them – every needle left behind in the house from the Christmas tree will cause the sighting of a spirit or a demon in the coming year. Some believe a stray needle or berry will result in a death in the family. (A good case for having an artificial tree!)

The danger isn't over once the decorations are down because a Christmas tree thrown outside will attract the attention of evil spirits and supernatural beings. For proper disposal, the tree must be burned immediately.

An old Breton tale tells the story of a blacksmith who refused to stop working after the church bell had rung for Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Suddenly a tall man entered his shop with a scythe that needed mending.

The blacksmith did the work but the mysterious man refused to pay him. Instead, he told the blacksmith to send for a priest because this work would be the last he would ever do. By the time the roosters crowed on Christmas morning, the blacksmith was dead. He had mended the Scythe of the Grim Reaper himself.

Wishing you a merry-not-too-scary holiday season!

Dani Harper
http://www.daniharper.com/

Your turn -- have you heard of any other superstitions concerning Christmas?

The Longest Night - Winter Solstice

Stonehenge at daybreak on the solstice.

The Winter Solstice is probably the most celebrated annual event worldwide, both now and in the past. Our ancestors rejoiced in the return of the sun, seeing it as a rebirth of life as well as light. Many ancient cultures created incredible structures to align with the sun during solstices. One of the most famous examples of this is Stonehenge, but it’s just one of hundreds of megalithic sites across Europe designed to mark these important days in the astronomical calendar. Ancient inhabitants of the New World, such as the Incas, built similar structures.

Winter Solstice, usually called Yule, falls on December 21 in 2011, and it marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. For those of us who struggle with the annual darkness, it draws the line between one half of the year and the other. After this day, the days will lengthen once more and light will increase.

The holiday now known as Christmas has its origins in many long ago Yule celebrations.

The Yule Log

Yule logs and fireplaces were once
a LOT bigger

Medieval tradition tells of an enormous log – commonly ash or oak – placed in the fireplace on the solstice. It was decorated with evergreens and kindled with the carefully saved remains of last year’s Yule log. The wood would burn all night, then be allowed to smolder for the following 12 days. Pouring ale or wine on the log was customary. So was sprinkling flour or breadcrumbs on it, or even placing coins on the log. All were said to bring good fortune, and the blackened coins were later given as gifts.

Remnants of the Yule log were said to have protective properties and were kept in the house to guard against lightning and hail, and against various diseases. Ashes of the log were mixed with cattle and poultry fodder to ensure that the livestock thrived in the coming year.

Later, as large fireplaces fell out of fashion, small logs were decorated in a similar way and holes were bored into the wood to hold candles, which would be burned for 12 nights. The French were the first to create an edible Yule log, and Victorian confectioners made these Yule cakes famous.

The Yule Tree

Celtic customs are said to have called for the decorating of sacred oak trees. The Celts and many other peoples also held evergreens to be symbolic of immortality, of continuing life in the midst of death. In the coldest, darkest and dreariest of winters, evergreens held forth hope of returning spring. Throughout many cultures and over countless centuries, homes have been decorated with evergreen boughs and other winter greenery.

The practice of decorating trees dates back to before Roman times. The trees were not cut down and brought into the house, however, but left alive and decorated wherever they grew with trinkets, trophies, sacred plants such as holly and mistletoes, bits of metal and sometimes replicas of gods.

The Yuletide Wreath

Wreaths have symbolized the wheel of the year since ancient times, and the word wreath comes from the Old English writhen, meaning "to twist". In many European countries, evergreen wreaths were lit with candles during the darkest winter days, symbolizing hope that light would return. Candles were sometimes placed around a wheel, to ensure that the year would cycle around so that the days would lengthen and warmth return. Holly wreaths were said to ward off the evil spirits that abounded during the darkness of midwinter, and holly might be kept near the door all year long to invite good fortune.

The Yule Goat

Giant straw goats decorate
town squares while tiny ones
decorate Yule trees

The Yule Goat or Julbock was central to solstice traditions in Scandinavia and northern Europe. A human dressed in goatskins and wearing long horns acted out a skit in which he “died” and returned to life. This was symbolic of the sun’s resurrection at solstice. (The goat guise was chosen because the Norse thunder god Thor had two goats which drew his chariot across the sky. He would occasionally kill the goats and use them to feed guests, then would restore them to life with a blow of his magical hammer.)

Goats were originally slaughtered as offerings during Yule, but later, goats made of straw were created annually as both decorations and effigies. This webcam site shows the current giant straw goat in Gävle, Sweden. The reason for the webcam is that the straw goat doesn't usually last the season -- it's a tradition for it to be burnt to the ground in the middle of the night!


http://www.camcentral.com/camviewer.php?id=16960&script=listings&task=map&item=location&show=Sweden


Other Winter Solstice traditions

Many people celebrate by staying awake throughout the night of the solstice so they can watch the sunrise the following day. Others wake early to observe the daybreak and dawn of a new cycle. Bonfires are usually lit to simulate the ascent of the sun and sometimes herbs such as sage are thrown into the blaze. Candles are allowed to burn throughout the day. Gifts are often exchanged as part of the midwinter celebrations, and stories told of ghosts and fairies.

Songs are sung, especially carols such as Deck the Halls which mention Yule specifically. Toasts are made and, in some places, groups dress up in costumes and go “wassailing”, which is very much like caroling. “Wassail” comes from an Anglo-Saxon toast for “Be Well” or “Be Healthy”. In modern times, the revelers go door to door, carrying “Wassail cups” that will hopefully be filled at each house.


Wassail was usually
hot spiced cider, alcohol optional.

 In ancient times, wassailing was done around the oldest tree in an apple orchard. Cider was poured on the roots and toast dipped in cider was hung on the branches to thank the tree dryads and ensure a good crop in the coming year. The carolers sang and drummed to drive away bad spirits, and the wassail cup was passed from person to person. Each took a drink and passed on the cup with a kiss and a blessing.

One of the most unique solstice traditions is the lighting of the White Horse on the hillside at Alton Barnes in England. The mammoth chalk figure is outlined by candles placed in glass jars on the day of the winter solstice. When night falls, only the glowing outline of the horse is visible. Here’s a video on YouTube of last year’s lighting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWwIZG6WJLs ).

The Reason for the Season

Winter solstice is often called Yule, probably from an old Nordic word for wheel. With the coming of Yule, the wheel of the year has rolled around to its beginning once more. The word solstice comes from Latin for “stoppage”. The sun is at its lowest point in the sky and its elevation at noon appears to be the same for several days before and after solstice.

The Celts believed that the "wheel of the year" paused briefly on this day as the sun itself appears to stop. Accordingly, they wouldn’t turn a wheel of any kind on this day, not even a butter churn. A time of stillness was prized as an opportunity to reflect on the past year and look forward to the new one.

This concept of reflection is still at the very heart of all midwinter celebrations. It’s a time to meditate on the sorrows of the past year as well as the positive moments and achievements. It offers a chance to bond with family and friends, and to look forward with hope.

Dani Harper
http://www.daniharper.com/

Your turn – Do you celebrate the winter solstice or Yule? What are some of the other traditions you know of?  If you're interested in reading more about Winter Solstice traditions, try The Winter Solstice: The Sacred Traditions of Christmas for adults and The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice for the young at heart.

Christmas Superstitions - Part One

Tis the season to dust off favorite blogs of Christmases past. For anyone who might have caught this one already, hope you enjoy it a second time!

As you know, I just can’t resist anything related to the paranormal. But Christmas? Who would have suspected that there was anything supernatural about such a warm fuzzy holiday? I mean, a big jolly fellow travels all over the world with his flying reindeer in a single night, squeezes down tiny chimneys with a neverending bag of presents, knows if you’re naughty or nice but is never seen himself… Come to think of it, that IS pretty paranormal!


I had a lot of fun researching Christmas superstitions and I was amazed by how MANY there were! In fact, there’s so much material I’ve decided to blog twice about this topic. Here then is the first installment. (By the way, here's the official disclaimer -- Remember, these are folktales and traditions, and not intended to be taken as truth!)

The Good….

Unmarried girls can cut a twig from a cherry tree on St. Barbora’s Day (Dec. 4th) and put it in water. If it blooms by Christmas Eve, marriage will follow within the year. Counting the stars on Christmas Eve will foretell the number of sheaves in your harvest. And if you see the sun shining through the limbs of the apple trees on Christmas Day, there’ll be an abundance of fruit the following year.

If you dream on any of the 12 nights between Christmas and Epiphany (Jan. 6), your dreams will come true in the next year. The first person in the household to hear a rooster crow or anyone who hears a cricket chirp on Christmas Day is going to have a very lucky year. Good luck follows those who give money to the poor on Christmas Day, to those who eat their breakfast by candlelight, and to those who stir the Christmas pudding.

The Bad….

Bad, bad fortune follows those who leave the dishes unwashed on Christmas Eve (and that’s on top of what Mom will do to you!). On Christmas Day, it’s unlucky to leave the dinner table before everyone has finished. A full moon on Christmas predicts a scanty harvest in the year to come. If Christmas Day falls on a Thursday, a year of windy weather is forecast.

On Christmas Eve it’s said that you can hear the bells of lost churches that have been covered by floods or buried by landslides and earthquakes. Picking up nuts or fruit from the ground will bring bad luck. So will sending carolers away without treats or money. And you really don’t want to be the first one home from church!

And the Scary….

A piece of winter greenery (holly, mistletoe, evergreen, etc.) must be brought into your home during the Christmas season, to keep away evil spirits. However, every winter leaf left in the house after Candlemas (Feb. 2) will result in the sighting of a ghost, or perhaps even a death in the house during the coming year! Mistletoe must be burned, or those who kissed beneath it will become enemies.

Those born on Christmas Day are rumored to be able to see ghosts and spirits. And those who are born on Christmas Eve are said to turn into ghosts themselves on that day every year! (Wow, this sounds more like Halloween, doesn’t it?) The only way to avoid this odd fate is to remain awake the entire night until Christmas Day dawns.

That's all for this post. Watch for more on Christmas superstitions!

Dani Harper
http://www.daniharper.com/     Changeling Moon

YOUR TURN! What Christmas superstitions or folklore have you heard of over the years?

The Myth and Lore of Mistletoe

-- Mistletoe is the official state flower of Oklahoma! --

Today we use mistletoe as a Christmas decoration (and occasionally steal a kiss under it). But mistletoe has a much longer history than Christmas itself.

Mistletoe is unusual in the plant world because it doesn’t grow in the earth at all. Instead, it’s an aerial parasite that lives only in the boughs of trees. This uncommon plant not only remains green throughout the winter, but produces its pure white berries right around the time of the winter solstice.

The ancient Celts believed mistletoe to be a sacred gift from the gods. The Romans recorded that the Celts would harvest mistletoe from a tree after the winter solstice. A druid – a Celtic priest – used a golden sickle to cut the plant. It was vital that the mistletoe never come in contact with the ground and so a white cloth was held beneath the tree to catch it. Two white bulls were then sacrificed to honor the god who provided the mistletoe and to petition him to increase the plant’s potency.

The druids were said to be skilled in both herbs and magic, and the mistletoe was one of the most powerful plants in their arsenal. A symbol of immortality, mistletoe was believed to have protective powers against evil spirits and the ability to heal diseases. Although mistletoe is a poisonous plant itself, in skilled hands it was considered to be an antidote to all poisons. It was also used to promote fertility of both animal and human and occasionally even used in aphrodisiac potions. This sacred plant was associated with good fortune and great blessings.

The mistletoe was so sacred that if enemies met in a forest and a mistletoe plant was spotted overhead, an automatic truce was declared until the following day. From this grew the practice of hanging mistletoe over the door, or suspending it from the ceiling as a symbol of peace and good will.

The Norse myth of Baldur takes us to the next phase of mistletoe tradition. The goddess, Frigga, was Baldur’s mother, and exacted a promise from every element, plant and animal, both on the earth and under the earth, not to harm Baldur. She forgot the mistletoe, which grows neither in the ground or on it. Loki, prankster and god of evil, tricked another god into shooting Baldur with an arrow made of mistletoe, which killed him. Fortunately, Balder is eventually brought back to life. His mother is so overcome with joy that she reverses the reputation of the offensive mistletoe, declaring that those who passed beneath a mistletoe plant should have a token kiss and be kept safe from harm.

Centuries later, both Celtic and Viking traditions were condemned by early Christianity as pagan, and mistletoe was forbidden to be displayed within sight of the church. However, that didn’t stop people from hanging mistletoe in their homes and barns or from wearing sprigs of it to ward off disease and evil. Mistletoe became known as All-heal, and is still used in homeopathic medicine.

It wasn’t until Victorian times that the plant’s original status as a symbol of peace and love was revived, and the practice of kissing under the mistletoe was reinstated.

Dani Harper
www.daniharper.com

Your turn --- In your wildest fantasy, who would YOU like to meet under the mistletoe?

CHANGELING MOON - upcoming shapeshifter novel

Just got the cover art for the first book in my upcoming shapeshifter series with Kensington. This story is classed as paranormal romance, but you'll find plenty of action and suspense in it. I'm really excited and looking forward to the release in May. It's soooo hard to wait, so I thought I'd share a preview with everyone!

BOOK ONE
Changeling Moon
by Dani Harper

He roams the moonlit wilderness, his every sense and instinct on high alert. Changeling wolf Connor Macleod and his Pack have never feared anything — until the night human Zoey Tyler barely escapes a rogue werewolf’s vicious attack.

As the full moon approaches, Zoey has no idea of the changes that are coming, and only Connor can show her what she is, and help her master the wildness inside. With her initiation into the Pack just days away and a terrifying predator on the loose, the tentative bonds of trust and tenderness are their only weapons against a force red in tooth, claw … and ultimate evil.

ADVANCE REVIEW

"Dani Harper’s CHANGELING MOON is one of those rare stories that literally catches you with the first paragraph and never lets go.

“Powerful characters, fantastic action and a really unique premise set this story apart from every other shapeshifter story I’ve read. Her Changeling world is unique and well-drawn and the pacing will keep readers turning those pages to see what’s coming next.

"A strong heroine with a mind of her own, a compassionate yet powerful hero, hot sex, hotter action, and a story that won’t turn you loose. It just doesn’t get any better than CHANGELING MOON. I highly recommend this one.

“Make room on the keeper shelf — Dani Harper is definitely an author to watch."

~ Kate Douglas ~ Author of the DemonSlayer and Wolf Tales series

ABOUT THE SERIES

There are three books in the series at present. Changeling Moon will be released on May 31, 2011, followed by Changeling Dream on June 28. Changeling Dawn is slated for release in January of 2012. All are coming out in Kensington's Brava line.

PS -  Changeling Moon can already be pre-ordered on Amazon!


Dani Harper
www.daniharper.com
Your turn - What do you think of the artwork? Would it inspire you to take a look at the book? What about the premise of the story? Are you a fan of paranormal romance?