We have learned to incorporate these little superstitions into our life. From the time when we are a little kid and Grandma Maria or old Uncle Walt manages to bestow their old-time wisdom into our very impressionable mind they become a part of us.
Well I have my superstitions too and this is my little tale of a certain New Year's Eve superstition which I accidentally stumbled upon as a child and it is one which there unfortunately seems to be no way to forget.
New Year's Eve is one of those evenings that I have come to dread. With each passing year, as the date draws closer I find my thoughts encompassed by an ever-increasing degree of fear over the upcoming event. Irrational? Yes. Something that I can control? No, I've tried.
Years ago when I was a child, a comment made by a drunken guest at one of my family's famous New Year's Eve parties burned into my subconscious thought and has remained there to this day. He was just an old neighbour who had drank far too much whisky that night, but as he grasped desperately onto one of my aunt's arms, he mumbled into her face a disturbing fact that has remained with me to this day.
He drunkenly slurred, "Whatever you are doing or feeling at the stroke of midnight is what you will be doing or feeling for the rest of the New Year, ya' know". Then he plastered a huge, sloppy kiss on my aunt that lasted practically the entire magical midnight minute while everyone else in the room shouted, hooted, twirled noise makers, and popped balloons.
For me, it was like they were the only two people in the room and I was enchanted by their actions. I could not take my eyes off them. It was magic.
Now to a little child, the words spoken by this drunken neighbour held an almost magical if not mystical quality within them. As a kid, I thought it was a wonderful sentiment and I felt privileged to have overheard this very special information.
New Year's Eve is after all a very special time. As a child it was the one night each year when I was allowed to stay up as late as I wanted. Friends, relatives, and neighbours came over, and everyone drank, danced, and ate till long after midnight or till one by one they stumbled off into the darkness and home. Some just fell asleep where they sat.
New Year's Eve was almost as special an event as Christmas. It is reportedly the day when we are each are given a clean slate to begin anew. Past mistakes are erased and troubles swept out the door as the clock on the wall strikes midnight. To a rather impressionable young kid, it seemed that nothing could possibly be more heartwarming or magical than New Year's Eve.
How soon I would come to know the true implications of this New Year's Eve superstition. The wondrous images of this early New Year's Eve were soon to be turned into horror as I realized the unexpected events which could in actuality occur at the stroke of midnight.
Cheating Boyfriend at Midnight: As a child, that magical vision of New Year's Eve occurred long before my heart would suddenly be wrenched from my chest by a callous boyfriend caught necking with another girl at that most magical of all moments in time.
Gross Kiss at Midnight: That New Year's Eve as a child was long before I also was forced to endure the misery of the all-too-gross slobbery midnight kiss of an ancient uncle with rotting teeth. (Now I know how my aunt felt that night.)
All Alone at Midnight
Then came the New Year's Eve night when, in horror, I turned first left and then right, only to find that the people on either side of me had turned in the opposite direction from me, and there I was standing all alone at the stroke of midnight. Alone.
All ALONE! The forecast for the year ahead was almost more than my superstitious little heart could bear to imagine. The fear of the fateful upcoming year hovered over me till I could once again have another New Year's Eve prophecy to replace the corrupt one that I had received.
Asleep at Midnight: Even worse is the thought that I might accidentally fall asleep one year and slumber through that magical stroke of midnight, in which case I might find myself sleeping through the next year or worse, for all eternity. The implications of that midnight prophecy sends shivers of fear coursing through the core of my very being.
A personal New Year's Eve tradition? Of course I have mine. I have had many New Year's Eves which were filled with feelings of love and goodwill. Others I have doctored to ensure that they would indeed be wonderful, but nothing ever really quite stops my anxiety over this yearly event. While other folks look at Halloween as the spookiest day of the year, I consider the scariest day of the year to be New Year's Eve and all courtesy of that rotten old superstition which just will not leave my mind.At the stroke of midnight I will hopefully be at home, wrapped up safely in the arms of the person I love. You rarely will find me out at a party. My best wishes to you for a happy New Years this year and in future years. If for some unforeseen reason you do find that you have a few brief moments to spare during that magical midnight moment, put a great big smile on your lips and wish up some happy thoughts. Bless yourself with a warm heart and a smile of contentment for your New Year.