11 Quirky Victorian New Year's Customs You’ve Never Heard Of

“We have been extremely lively; danced our way into the New Year, and again just last night, and were immensely cheerful,” Queen Victoria penned to her uncle, the King of Belgium, on January 4, 1843. At just 23 years old, she was six years into her long reign (1837–1901) and seemed to relish every moment of the New Year. For many Victorians, celebrations filled with parties, dancing, and high spirits were essential to New Year’s festivities, much like today. However, there were also numerous peculiar, old-fashioned, and delightful traditions that have mostly disappeared. Here are 11 such Victorian New Year’s customs.

1. Avoid letting a woman be the first to cross your threshold in the new year.

Referred to as “first-foot” or “first-footing,” this Scottish and Northern English superstition claimed it was unlucky for a light-haired or (depending on the area) dark-haired man to be the first to enter a home in the new year. Even worse was if a woman was the first to enter. In one Shropshire valley, it was believed to bring misfortune if a woman entered the house before noon.

2. Avoid removing items from your home without replacing them with something new.

A superstition common in certain areas of Northern England warned against taking anything out of the house unless something was brought in first. A popular rhyme went: “Remove before you bring, / And trouble it will cling. / Bring before you remove, / And fortune will improve.”

3. Play the role of a gentleman caller on New Year’s Day.

The custom of visiting friends and family on New Year’s Day was more popular in Europe than in Victorian England, but it reached its peak in New York City, where it became a competitive activity. Young men would dash across the city to visit (to call on) as many young women as they could. By the 1890s, the tradition had faded, replaced by more private New Year’s Eve gatherings.

4. Hurl bread at the door on New Year’s Eve.

By the Victorian era, this ritual appeared to endure only in “the more affluent homes of the southern and midland counties” of Ireland. Families baked a large loaf known as barmbrack on New Year’s Eve. The head of the household would take three bites before tossing it against the door while those present prayed “that cold, poverty, or hunger might stay away” in the year ahead.

5. Participate in a “Watch Night” service on New Year’s Eve.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, reintroduced the ancient practice of “Watch Night” services—extended, reflective church gatherings lasting until midnight—in the 1740s to offer coal miners a spiritual alternative to visiting pubs. By the 19th century, these services evolved into a New Year’s Eve tradition: a meaningful activity instead of partying and drinking.

6. Randomly open a Bible to predict your future on New Year’s Day.

Referred to as “dipping,” this tradition required opening a Bible to a random page and blindly selecting a passage. The chosen text was believed to foretell the fortune, good or bad, of the person performing the ritual.

7. Make someone endure the stang on New Year’s Day.

A medieval practice that persisted into the Victorian era, “riding stang” involved mob violence in certain English regions. On New Year’s Day, a group would kidnap someone, force them to ride a pole (a “stang”) to the nearest pub, and demand a fine from the crowd for their release. Initially a method to shame criminals or those deemed immoral, it evolved into a New Year’s amusement by the 19th century.

8. Indulge in a revolting pie on New Year’s Eve.

Mince meat pies were a classic Victorian delicacy for New Year’s, but Mrs. Bliss’s recipe takes it to another level. Her “New Year’s Pie” features a boiled cow’s tongue encased in a chicken, which is stuffed into a duck, then a turkey, and finally a goose. The entire creation is glazed with jelly made from beef’s feet, making the Turducken pale in comparison!

9. Enjoy a playful “Resolutions” game at your New Year’s Eve gathering.

Victorians are often wrongly criticized as dull, but this New Year’s party game highlights their playful side. The rules are straightforward: Write a resolution for yourself or another player on a slip of paper and fold it. Each participant draws and reads a resolution aloud, with the most absurd ones sparking the most laughter. Examples from an 1896 game book include, “I must quit smoking in my sleep,” and “I must walk with my right foot on the left side.”

10. Reflect on New Year’s Eve as a symbolic funeral.

The idea that Victorians could be somber, even during New Year’s Eve, holds some truth. Poets and preachers urged people to view the transition from one year to the next as a form of death. Take Alfred Tennyson’s “The Death of the Old Year” (“Close up his eyes: tie up his chin: / Step from the corpse”) or Alexander Balloch Grosart’s “New Year’s Eve” (“The darkness of this year’s death, / Will it enshroud us still?”). Quite uplifting! “It is healthy to embrace the melancholy reflections this time evokes,” advised Thomas Kibble Hervey, “but not at the expense of its more joyous aspects.”

11. Send an eccentric New Year’s card.

The practice of sending Christmas and New Year’s cards originated during the Victorian Era. Much like the bizarre Victorian Christmas imagery of deceased birds and dogs wielding guns, New Year’s cards often showcased playful monkeys, intoxicated frogs, and even more deceased birds. Among the most mischievous were a collection of Kinney Tobacco Company cards, which depicted children marked with the old year’s date being tossed into a cauldron to be transformed into soup.