My mom (who is from the South) told me of this tradition her family practiced growing up.
Wanda Lloyd for the Montgomery Advertiser explains…
“As many of us are making plans to bring in 2007 tonight with parties, family gatherings or worship services, some may also be thinking about how to adhere to some time-worn customs handed down through generations of family traditions. My own family had some of these traditions, mostly perpetuated by the beliefs of my widowed maternal grandmother. Her rules were the rules of family governance.
My most vivid childhood memory of New Year’s Day included her belief that the first visitor to the house in the new year had to be a man to be sure good luck would come to the home throughout the year. So every Jan. 1, my dad would get up early and show up at my grandmother’s house to be sure he got there before a woman (I never figured out who that would be) might decide to visit. In Europe, this practice is called “first footing.”
Apparently, Grandma wasn’t alone. Some of her widowed neighbors shared this superstition. When Daddy left Grandma’s house, he would knock on the door of several other houses on the block and take one step inside to ensure that a man had crossed the threshold first in the new year. (more…)
Now more than ever we need our men live up to such a great honor.
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