A New Year's menu can be important for guests who believe the folklore of ancestors.

And for those who are faint of heart, how the New Year's Day is spent and which activities are pursued can affect the many months ahead.

What does cabbage have to do with New Year's Eve and bringing good luck for the new year?

Why shouldn't you wash your clothes on New Year's Day?

Why is it worth eating a piece of slimy fish called "herring" at the stoke of midnight at the beginning of the New Year?

If you don't know everything there is to know about New Year's, don't worry, you're not alone.

Porter County Public Library research librarian Larry Clark and the good people at Hallmark Cards and Holiday Greetings Inc., have provided the following facts and folklore about New Year's menus and traditions for some interesting table conversation for both tonight's parties and New Year's Day family dinners:

* To gain wealth in the new year, eat cabbage or sauerkraut. Cabbage and its green tint is said to represent paper money.

* Germans believe eating herring (a strong-flavored fish often served in sour cream or vinegar) at midnight will bring good luck all year round.

* In Italy, pig's feet or pork and lentil beans are eaten. The lentil beans symbolize "coins" to bring wealth in the new year.

* In most of Eastern Europe, people are told to eat pork and poultry for New Year's. The reason for this is because chickens scratch backwards (symbolizing a return to the old) and pigs root with their noses forward (symbolizing moving on to the new year.)

* Black-eyed peas are another favorite for good luck, an idea believed to serve as a charm to appetites. Brought to the Old South from Africa during the colonial days and passed along by the families of the great plantations, black-eyed peas were eaten by the workers in the fields and eventually also were served in the elegant dining rooms of the wealthy farm families.

* And according to a centuries-old tradition dating back to the Middle Ages in England, it's a kitchen tradition started by the cooks in the towering castles of royalty to always make sure all salt shakers were full on New Year's Day "to ensure you will prosper all year long."

* Much is owed to Dom Pérignon for spreading the popularity of Champagne with some clever marketing of the bubbly as the drink of the privileged and prosperous. It's been around since the 1600s, and it has always been a laborious process to produce, as to create those trademark bubbles.

From the beginning, it has been considered a beverage of celebration for special occasions and symbolizing success, wealth and all good things of life, making it a natural choice for toasting weddings, birthdays, christening ships and, especially, popping corks on New Year's Eve. Pierre Pérignon was actually the Benedictine monk who, in 1688, was appointed treasurer at the Abby of Hautvillers. The Abby is located near Epernay in what is now known as "the Champagne region." Included in Dom Pérignon's duties was managing the cellars and wine making. The bubbles in the wine are a natural process arising from Champagne's cold climate and short growing season. Of necessity, the grapes are picked late in the year. This doesn't leave enough time for the yeasts present on the grape skins to convert the sugar in the pressed grape juice into alcohol before the cold winter temperatures put a temporary stop to the fermentation process. With the coming of spring's warmer temperatures, the

fermentation is again under way, but this time in the bottle. The refermentation creates carbon-dioxide, which now becomes trapped in the bottle, thereby creating the sparkle.

Singin' in the New Year

Written in Scotland in 1788, this tune about old friends and memories is the anthem of New Year's Eve.

"Auld Lang Syne"

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll take a cup o' kindness yet

For auld land syne!

* Making the date -- New Year's celebrations have been observed since prehistoric times. However, only within the past 400 years has Jan. 1 been the widespread observed holiday. The Romans, in 153 B.C., were the first to use Jan. 1 to mark the beginning of the new year.

* Cease to Caesar -- Roman Emperor Julius Caesar tried to change the New Year date from Jan. 1 to a later date. Though he was voted down by the Senate, to make the ruler happy, the month of his birth was named in his honor: July.

* A noisy night -- Some of the most familiar trademarks of New Year's parties are noisemakers, masks and paper hats. This tradition began many centuries ago as an effort to hide your identity while making noise to "drive away evil spirits" from hampering the new year. In China, firecrackers are used as "the loudest noisemakers around."

* Weather or not -- Dating back to the times of ancient Babylon, it is believed the weather on New Year's Day is symbolic of what the weather will be like for the rest of the new year. For example, sunny, rainy, cold, warm ... Some people even believe each of the 12 days before New Year's Day are symbolic of what the weather will be like for each of the 12 months in the new year. In Missouri, many believe a windless New Year's Day means a dry summer; windy means floods; and breezy indicates summer rainfall.

* Presidential party time -- George Washington, our country's first president, is credited for holding the first public reception and presidential inauguration. According to his diary entry for New Year's Day 1790: "Many came between the hours of 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. to pay the compliments of the season to me, and in the afternoon, a great number of ladies and gentlemen visited Mrs. Washington on the same occasion."

* Mum's the word -- The Swedish and English who settled along the Delaware River began the tradition of the "Mummers' Parade of Philadelphia," which is still held each New Year's Day. Groups dressed in fancy costumes sing and present plays along the streets while "mumming," which means begging for money, food, drinks or belated Christmas gifts.

* Flower power -- The most famous New Year's Day parade for most people is "The Tournament of Roses Parade," held each year in Pasadena, Calif., which features more than 70 floats constructed from and covered with flowers. Originally meant to celebrate "the ripening of oranges in California," it now has come to mean the opening of The Rose Bowl football game, which first began in 1902, when the University of Michigan defeated Stanford 49 to 0. Ouch!

* Hide the Tide detergent -- Some people believe whatever a person does on New Year's Day will indicate the type of year that awaits. If you do laundry on New Year's Day, you will have a hard year of work ahead and a death in the family. (Gulp!) Washing clothes on Jan. 1 is said to represent "washing someone out of your life!" Also, forget about sewing. It is said if you sew on New Year's Day, you will be sewing a shroud (a cloth used to cover a dead body for a funeral) by the end of the year!

* Look who's there -- Should the first visitor to your house on New Year's Day be a female, bad luck will follow. (Sorry, we didn't make this stuff up.) If the first visitor is a man, expect good luck. Many visitors at one time indicate good fortune. Also, nothing should be taken outside the house unless something is brought back in, in exchange.

* Cleaning the slate -- To start the new year without bringing along any past problems, people for centuries have made certain they had all debts paid and have returned any borrowed items. Also, as a way to try to improve, people made "promises" to themselves, called "resolutions."

* Window wisdom -- On New Year's Day in Italy, people open all the windows in their homes to "let out the old year."

* River resistance -- It is believed all rivers and springs stop flowing for five minutes at the stoke of midnight on New Year's Eve. Also, all animals are said to kneel at midnight on New Year's Eve. (They're probably sleeping.)

* Dick Clark doings -- Millions of people traditionally spend New Year's Eve in Times Square in New York City without ever leaving the comfort of their homes thanks to rock music "master of ceremonies" legend Dick Clark. Since 1959, Clark has hosted a televised music party and "countdown" to the New Year in the middle of Times Square.

The Times Square New Year's Eve trademark is a 6-foot lighted ball that descends 70 feet on a pole to the ground to symbolize the arrival of the New Year. The first "glowing ball" was built in 1907 by Russian immigrant and metalworker/signmaker Jacob Star, after the city outlawed fireworks on New Year's Eve.

* Wedding wisdom -- It is said on New Year's Eve, young girls who put a gold ring in the bottom of a glass of water in a candlelit cellar at midnight will see their future husband. Also, on New Year's Eve, a young girl who shakes the trunk of a young peach tree can determine where her future husband will come from. If a dog barks while shaking the tree, the man will come from a great distance. If a rooster is heard crowing, she will marry someone very near.

* Baby beginnings -- The image of a baby in a diaper wrapped in a banner as the symbol of the new year began with a sketch in Germany in the 14th century. But the idea of a baby to symbolize the new year first was introduced in ancient Greece in 600 B.C., as a sign of "new beginnings." The idea of a man with a long beard as "Father Time" first was first depicted in Ancient Egypt, etched in hieroglyphics, (painted or carved pictures in or on stone).