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I hope you and your family enjoyed a warm, loving and peace filled Christmas. And now as we look to a brand new year on the horizon, I pray 2024 will bring us hope and light and a strength to do what is right, good and kind. As I think on these things, I am reminded of this year and the years long past.  I look forward to celebrating old traditions and making new ones.

Traditions are the glue that can hold a family’s memories for generations to come.  As this is a repost, I wanted to share some of my family’s beloved traditions.

In the community I grew up in Washington, New Year traditions were serious matters. Each family kept religiously the ones passed down to them.

My family held on to traditions like Tevye from the Musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’   Tevye is the main character in what in my opinion is the greatest musical of all time. Tevye was a poor Jewish milkman who lived with his family in the small Ukrainian village of Anatevka in Imperial Russia. He attempts to maintain his family’s religious and cultural traditions as the world and society changed around them. He understands how outside influences can change their way of living and their traditions. He held on to those traditions fiercely.

My family, like so many others held fast to their traditions. Old traditions were sacred to them.

One of them was that no one could visit a house in my community on New Year’s Day until a man who did not live in the house came to the house and walked through the entire house, blessing it. Then after that, all visitors were welcomed. This tradition is said to have its roots in slavery and the Scottish tradition of ‘First Footing’ or Hogmanay.

New Year’s Day food that we ate every year without fail were ‘Hoppin John’ (black-eyed peas, rice and pork.) Collard greens (represented money,) corn bread (represented gold,) fish (the hope you’d be swimming in money all year,) and cake (for a sweet year.)

Other traditions included taping a dollar bill over the inside of front door or under a doormat to ensure money would be coming into the house all year long.  Everyone made sure they had at least a five-dollar bill in their wallet or purse, and it was supposed to bring very good luck if you did not spend it until the next New Year’s Eve.

Our family opened the back door to let the old year out and opened the front door to let the new year in based on an old Irish tradition.

Some people sprinkled sugar in their yard to ensure a sweet year based on a Puerto Rican tradition.

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Some families made sure each family member wore new shoes on New Year’s Day to walk in added blessings in the new year.

Some families made noise with firecrackers, whistles, and pots and pans to scare off evil spirits who could threaten the New Year, while other families remained quiet on New Year’s Eve because they believed they would hear the animals praying.

As I look back fondly on all these traditions, this is what I do know will bring peace and prosperity this year to our hearts and souls. Being kind to one another and treating each other with dignity, grace and respect will truly bring a blessing to all.

A very happy and blessed New Year to you and your family.

Leesa Jones is a Washington native and the co-curator of the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum.