Black-eyed peas, turnip greens, collards and cabbage may not be the some of the tastiest things to eat, but they’re certainly the go-to item for a good start on the new year.

Tradition has it that black-eyed peas bring luck and that greens entire wealth. And after the economic down-swirl of 2008, folks are swallowing anything in hopes to make a difference for 2009.

Many take those traditions seriously and put them on the table yearly.

Bobbie Goodwin, co-manager of Food World said that this is one of the biggest traditions that she sees each year.

“It never fails, every year many of our shoppers come here in search of the black-eyed peas and either collard or turnip greens,” she said. “Tradition has it that the black-eyed peas bring good luck and the greens bring in money. This year everyone is trying to get as much of them both as they can.”

For shopper, Trisha Taylor, she’s already turned out to be pretty lucky despite the fact she hasn’t even ate the black-eyed peas that she purchased.

“I just got the last bag of black-eyed peas,” she said with a smile. “I’ve never really been sure if eating all of the peas and collards make a difference in bringing and luck, but it never hurts to do it anyway. And I did manage to grab the last pack off of the shelf, which might mean that this could be the start of a great 2009.”

For Barbara Robertson, she unfortunately missed out on the black-eyed peas.

“Trisha got the last bag,” she said. “I did however get the hog jowl, hopefully I’ll be able to get some at another store. I can’t go through a new year without them, so now my hunt is on.”

Despite whether or not she finds the black-eyed peas, she knows hopes that 2009 will have nothing but good things for her and her family, as do we all.

Here are a few of the more popular New Year superstitions found on the Web:

To ensure affections and ties for the next 12 months, kiss your true love at midnight or risk a year without affection.

Celebrate with lots of noise, it will scare away evil spirits and start the New Year free of evil spirits.

Lending money or something of significant value on New Year’s Day could mean that people will want money-loans all year long.

Don’t wash clothes – if you wash clothes on New Year’s Day a family member will die in the upcoming year.

Do not leave home until someone enters it first, by knocking – if they are bearing a gift, it’s even better. The first person who enters the home after New Year’s should be a man – blonds and redheads are bad luck.

Do not remove anything from a home on New Year’s, not even the garbage, unless you want to pay or give things out to people or have people leave you all through the year.

Babies born on New Year’s Day will always have good luck.

Source: Snopes.com, associatedcontent.com and infoweb.newsbank.com.