New Year’s Eve has never been chill.

In this episode of Barely Historical, hosts JoLynne and Amanda explore the strange, dark, and often unhinged history of New Year’s Eve superstitions from around the world. Long before glitter, champagne, and countdown clocks, people genuinely believed that what you ate, cleaned, wore, said, or touched on New Year’s Eve could determine your luck, wealth, health, or survival for the entire year.

We break down real historical traditions and cultural superstitions, including black-eyed peas, grapes at midnight, silence rituals, first-footing, forbidden cleaning, money rules, and why people feared starting the year “wrong.” Along the way, we play Fact or Folklore, separating real historical beliefs from complete nonsense, and examine why humans have always been desperate to control the future with rituals, rules, and vibes.

This episode covers:

• New Year’s Eve superstitions throughout history

• Cultural traditions from Europe, Asia, and beyond

• Ancient beliefs about luck, fate, money, and misfortune

• Why New Year’s anxiety is not a modern invention

• Weird history explained with humor, sarcasm, and opinions

If you love weird history, dark humor podcasts, cultural folklore, or learning why people used to panic over laundry and doorways, this episode is for you.

Hosts: JoLynne & Amanda

Produced by Barely Historical

Patreon: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/BarelyHistorical⁠

Contact: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

Tagline: Let’s ruin history.