See If You Ring In The West Virginia New Year With Any Of These Old Appalachian Traditions

One thing the Appalachian region is definitely not short on is traditions. Here are a few New Year’s traditions that are observed in our area… how many do you incorporate in your New Year’s celebration?

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This tasty meal is supposed to usher in a prosperous year ahead. The most traditional among us insist that the best omen is to make sure your hog jowl still has a few teeth in it. However, many others I know of substitute regular bacon for jowl bacon and some even add tomatoes and/or cornbread to the mix. What's your tried and true New Year's Day meal recipe?

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Does your church hold a "watch service" to gather for prayer as the new year dawns? Or did you attend one of these growing up?

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Did you save a few fireworks to set off on New Year's Eve? Or maybe you fire gunshots or even a cannon (not all of us have one of those lying around our backyard, though...) to ring in the New Year.

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New Year's Resolutions aren't unique to Appalachia, but we definitely make them, too! What are yours for this year?

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We love to put 'em up, and we love to go all out... but by New Year's weekend, the tree has shed most of its needles and it's time for all those lights to go back in their boxes. Or maybe not - some of us leave our lights up well into January!

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This New Year's tradition isn't Appalachian so much as West Virginian: the Shanghai Parade in Lewisburg. It starts at noon on New Year's Day! Line up on Lee Street starting at 11 a.m.

Margaret Louisa Herschel/Wikipedia

It's good luck to be someone's first visitor (the "first foot") of the new year! And some think that the gender of the first visitor of the year will foretell the gender of most of the farm animals born on your property in that year.

What West Virginian New Year’s traditions did we miss? Cooking with silver coins? Sharing a kiss at midnight? Setting out some cut onions? Cleaning the house from top to bottom? We’d love to hear what you do to mark the turn of the year! Here’s another idea: join a First Day Hike at one of West Virginia’s State Parks!