New Year’s Day is a holiday many superstitions revolve around. If you were to travel around the world on this day, you’d find quite a few unusual traditions. Some of these superstitions are universal, whereas others are very country-specific.
A common New Year’s belief in many parts of the world involves the question of whether you should clean your house on this holiday. For example, can you vacuum on New Year’s Day?
Is It Bad Luck to Clean on New Year’s Day?
Some superstitions might be a perfect excuse to give yourself a break and slow down a bit. And what better time to do this than the holidays? A common New Year’s superstition that stretches across cultures is that you should avoid cleaning altogether on this day.
There are all sorts of beliefs behind this. Some cultures think that what you do on New Year’s Day is something you’ll be doing every day of the following year. So, is cleaning really one of the chores you want to do on a daily basis for the next 365 days?
Others think that by washing your clothes, for example, you will be washing away a loved one. And nobody wants to be responsible for any harm that might happen to those we care about.
Also, throwing away garbage from your house is interpreted as throwing away your good luck. The same applies to sweeping your place on this day. Maybe you believe that by doing this, you sweep away all the negativity? Well, most superstitious folks avoid doing it for fear of brushing away all the good things that might come in the year ahead.
Can You Vacuum on New Year’s Day?
As we mentioned, you’ll want to skip cleaning on New Year’s Day because it is considered a bad omen. Although you might be tempted to have your place spick and span before those guests arrive, try to do the mopping and scrubbing beforehand. We don’t see how vacuuming qualifies as anything other than cleaning, so you might want to put the vacuum cleaner away on that day.
What Should You Not Do on New Year’s Day? 5 Other New Year’s Superstitions
Besides cleaning, there are quite a few things to avoid on January 1st. We’ve prepared 5 you might find useful.
1. Do not enter the new year with old debts. Make sure you paid all your bills, and that you paid back whoever you might have owed. It’s important you start a new year on the right foot and with a clean slate.
2. Don’t have an empty wallet. If your wallet is empty, run to the nearest ATM and fill it up with some cash. This is said to bring prosperity and financial welfare in the year to come.
3. Don’t work a lot. Working a lot on New Year’s Day will bring bad luck and make work day and night for the next 12 months. However, you should work a little, so that you actually keep a job throughout the year.
4. Don’t wash your hair. Believe it or not, some cultures believe that washing your hair will also wash away all your good luck for the year.
5. Don’t cry! This one is a no-brainer. Leave those tears for another day, unless you want to start a year of sadness.
You’re still not quite sure whether completing a certain ritual or not can influence you in any way? Regardless of what you believe in, it’s sure that you don’t want to jinx an entire year of your life, so some of these traditions might be worth following.