Folk Traditions

My family has a bunch of traditions that we follow and have followed for ages. But after reading everyone else's posts, I started to think about the traditions I have picked up and started following because of the places I've traveled/lived and the people I've met.

One of the earliest was starting to eat black-eyed peas for New Year's, which is an American tradition but not from where I grew up. I started doing that when I lived in Poland because one of my American friends from Ohio did it as part of her New Year's tradition.

While living in Spain, for New Year's I learned to eat 12 grapes as the clock strikes midnight. To have good luck, you have to finish eating all 12 before the clock chimes the 12th time -- the trick is to find the smallest grapes. My Spanish roommates clued me into that trick. (This little tradition was very challenging when I was traveling in Southeast Asia where there aren't a lot of grapes around. I do remember finding some grapes in Thailand on New Year's but not being anywhere near a clock that chimed -- we approximated).

From my brother-in-law, who is Dutch, and sister, I've learned to make Oliebollen (which translates to "oily balls" and in my mind that is absolutely the truth -- like oily ball-shaped donuts that have apple and raisins). For Sinta Klaas, which is Christmas in Holland, we also put chocolate letters in our shoes on Dec. 6th, which is another Dutch tradition. Of course, we only do this when my sister remembers to send the chocolate in time.

There are so many other traditions that I have picked up during my travels that have become part of my life. I don't even realize hat they are things I learned elsewhere; we just do them as part of our family tradition.