Traditions

Tradition 1: Yesterday, I was riding up in the elevator, having just caught the grocery store before it closed early for New Year's Eve. One of the other residents in the building held the elevator door for me. I got in the elevator and noticed that he'd stacked a large number of grocery bags in a corner. There were boxes and boxes of Kleenex, rolls of toilet paper and paper towels among other supplies.

"That's a lot of tissue," I said.

"It's Korean tradition," he said.

"Oh?"

"It's considered bad luck to run out of something at the start of a new year."

"Interesting," I replied. Then the elevator doors opened and I got off.

"You have yourself a happy New Year," he said.

"Thank you. And same to you."

Tradition 2: If I were in Haiti today, I would be eating pumpkin soup -- soup joumou -- in celebration of Haiti's independence day. I've been in Haiti on Independence Day twice: first in 2007, and then again in 2010.

I can't say that I'm a huge fan of Haitian pumpkin soup. Although I'm told that everyone in Haiti makes it slightly differently. Like piklis -- everyone has their own family recipe. It usually has some pasta in it, with some potato and pieces of beef. And a pumpkin-y broth. (All the English speakers I know in Haiti call it "pumpkin soup", but Wikipedia says that it's made with butternut squash).

The story goes that, prior to the revolution, slaves were never allowed to eat pumpkin soup, and so the idea that Haitians could prepare pumpkin soup and eat it for themselves was deeply symbolic of their new freedom.

Tradition 3: I have a personal tradition of watching Casablanca on New Year's Eve. I can't say that I've done it every year, but I have done it on most years. This year, I hunted around for my DVD before recalling that I think I loaned the DVD to a work colleague. I didn't watch it last year (because I was in Haiti).

Two years in a row without Casablanca. What's worse, they say it's bad luck to run out of something at the start of a new year.