The celebration of the arrival of the new year has existed throughout all times and in all countries. Each culture has its own particular day that is celebrated as the start of a new year. The holiday celebrated by most of the people living during the Colonial Period in the North American colonies took place (according to the Julian Calendar) on the evening of 24 March until the year 1752 and then, beginning in that year and continuing thereafter, it has taken place on the evening of 31 December (the last day on the Gregorian calendar), stretching over into the wee hours of 01 January. (Note: The Jewish settlers would have celebrated their ‘new year’ in the holiday of Rosh Hashanah.)
The one custom that has, over the years, been associated with the New Year’s Eve celebration is the embracing and kissing of loved ones.
In the Colonial period, New Year’s Eve was a time for young ladies to get together, prepare a large bowl of wassail (heated, spiced ale) and carry it from house to house, sharing the warm drink with their neighbors, and receiving small gifts in return. This was called “wassailing”. The name comes from the Middle English, waes and haeil, meaning “health to you”. The drink consisted of mulled (heated) cider or ale, with sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and other spices mixed in. Pieces of toast would be floated on the top of the bowl. The wassail was also known by the name of Lamb’s Wool.
During Colonial times, it was customary to give small gifts on New Year’s Day. It was believed that the ending of the previous year was to be celebrated with drinking and socializing with loved ones and friends, and that the starting of the new year should be celebrated with the giving and receiving of gifts. A gift that was commonly given was an orange with cloves stuck in it. A ribbon would be tied around a fresh orange, and then the entire exposed surface would be covered with whole cloves and then dusted in cinnamon.
There are a few superstitions associated with New Year’s, one of which is related to the weather. It was believed that if New Year’s Day opened with red skies, that the following year would be one with much strife and debates between people, and that robberies would be quite common.
Another superstition involved the Bible. Before eating breakfast, people would take turns opening a Bible completely at random. Then a verse would be pointed to on the two open pages, again at random. The verse that was thus randomly chosen was believed to foreshadow the events of the following year for the participant.
During this time when houses were heated and lit by open fires, it was believed that if anyone took fire from your house, one of your family members would die before the year was finished.
It was considered bad luck for the first visitor of the day to be a woman.
Bad luck was also feared if anything was thrown out of a house. In the day and age before modern plumbing, women would throw dirty water out the door, and ashes that accumulated in the fireplace needed to be removed. But because the removal of anything portended bad luck, families were very cautious about their actions on New Year’s Day.
from http://motherbedford.com/Holiday01.htm