As the clock strikes midnight and the world welcomes 2026, communities across the globe will mark the new year with a tapestry of traditions—each one steeped in history, hope, and a dash of superstition. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the question of what’s for dinner on New Year’s Day barely needs asking. The answer, as it has been for generations, is a hearty plate of pork and sauerkraut—a meal as much about comfort and community as it is about luck and prosperity.
According to LancasterOnline, this Pennsylvania Dutch tradition stretches back to the 1800s, when farmers relied on sauerkraut as a thrifty, healthy, and easily preserved dish to see them through the winter. Add a generous serving of roast pork, and you have a meal that has become synonymous with the start of a new year in Lancaster County. It’s more than just food; it’s a ritual, a gathering, and, for many, a promise of good fortune in the months ahead.
“We’re going to be out of town ... but we’ll be back for the pork and sauerkraut,” Dean Evans of Lancaster told LancasterOnline. Like Evans, many residents make it a point to be home on January 1, either to prepare the dish themselves or to join in community meals hosted by local fire companies and churches. These gatherings are more than social events—they’re fundraisers, with organizations like the Lititz Church of the Brethren serving pork and sauerkraut for two decades to support causes like youth conferences. In 2024 alone, about 1,800 people attended or took meals home from the Lititz Church’s New Year’s dinner, with volunteers starting their work in the early hours, cooking nearly a thousand pounds of pork butts and preparing sides like mashed potatoes and homemade applesauce.
But why pork and sauerkraut? The symbolism runs deep. As Jeff Hershey, president of the Denver Lions Club, explained to LancasterOnline, “A pig, when it roots for food, it roots forward. That’s supposed to be good luck because you’re moving forward into the new year.” The sauerkraut, meanwhile, is associated with wealth, prosperity, and longevity—a nod to the dish’s humble origins and its role in sustaining families through lean winter months. More than half of the respondents in a recent LancasterOnline poll said they eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day, with another 30% enjoying it any time of year. For some, the tradition is flexible—pork and sauerkraut might appear at Thanksgiving or Christmas, or whenever the weather turns cold enough to crave something hearty.
The preparation of this iconic meal is itself a testament to community and patience. Some residents prefer to make their own sauerkraut, starting in October by shredding hundreds of heads of cabbage and fermenting them for eight weeks. The Denver Lions Club, for example, sells its homemade sauerkraut in early December, just in time for the season. “We tell new people you want to cook it slowly in your oven or a Crock-Pot,” Hershey advises. “Leave it in there six to eight hours. Homemade sauerkraut won’t cook as quickly as the processed kind.”
Of course, not every batch turns out perfectly. William Schmidt of Manheim Township recalled a failed attempt two decades ago: “I had one batch that was positively awful. It didn’t ferment. It rotted.” Still, he persevered, and his next effort was much improved. Some cooks like to add brown sugar or apples to mellow the sauerkraut’s tang, while others toss in a can of beer for moisture or experiment with flavors like juniper berries. As Evans shared, “It imparts an evergreen essence to the sauerkraut.”
The pork itself is a matter of personal preference. Popular cuts include pork loin, roast, shoulder, and Boston butt—favored for its fat content, which lends richness to the dish. Others might use pork chops, crispy tails, or even hot dogs, depending on family tradition and taste. The meal is often rounded out with sides like mashed potatoes and applesauce, creating a spread that’s as much about abundance as it is about symbolism.
If home fermentation isn’t your forte, there’s no shortage of opportunities to join in the tradition. Local churches and fire companies across Lancaster County open their doors on New Year’s Day, serving up pork and sauerkraut to hungry crowds and raising funds for their causes. The Lititz Church of the Brethren, for instance, mobilizes about 140 volunteers each year, starting their preparations in October and working through the holiday season to ensure every plate is piled high. It’s a labor of love that brings the community together—and, just maybe, a little luck for the year ahead.
But Pennsylvania isn’t alone in its culinary superstitions. As The Commercial Appeal reports, New Year’s food traditions abound across the United States and around the world, each one promising its own brand of fortune. In the American South, black-eyed peas, pork, rice, and greens are the fare of choice—peas for luck, pork for prosperity, and greens for financial success. In Ohio, pork and sauerkraut share the spotlight with Pennsylvania, carrying similar meanings of luck and longevity.
Globally, the rituals are as diverse as the cultures that practice them. In China, fireworks are set off to scare away evil spirits, and red envelopes filled with cash are given to children. In Japan, families slurp toshikoshi soba noodles, their length symbolizing a long life and their buckwheat base representing strength. The Philippines embraces circles—twelve round fruits for twelve months of luck, and even polka-dotted clothing for added measure. Turkey’s New Year’s revelers smash pomegranates on their doorsteps, hoping to usher in health and abundance.
Europeans have their own quirky customs. In Denmark, the more broken dishes outside your home, the better your luck for the year. Germans, Swedes, and Poles dine on herring for prosperity, while Greeks hang onions for fertility. Spaniards race to eat twelve grapes at midnight, one for each chime of the clock, to guarantee twelve months of good fortune. In Ireland, hopeful romantics slip mistletoe under their pillows, dreaming of future love.
Africa’s New Year’s celebrations are vibrant and communal, with countries like Ghana hosting street parties and beach gatherings, and South Africans tossing old furniture out of windows to symbolically discard the past year’s troubles. In South America, traditions range from eating grapes and wearing colored clothing to leaping over ocean waves and burning effigies representing the old year.
Back in Lancaster County, as families gather around tables laden with pork and sauerkraut, they join a global chorus of people hoping that a meal—or a midnight ritual—might tip the scales of fortune in their favor. Whether it’s the comfort of tradition, the warmth of community, or just the simple pleasure of a well-cooked meal, the start of 2026 is, for many, a moment to savor old customs and look forward to new beginnings.
