Ireland is full of old wives’ tales (that's a great expression in itself!), and on New Years we've got a few more crazy ones. Of course we'll tell the tourists that these are 100% legit and to be truly Irish, you need to be at it too...

First up, never ever be washing clothes on New Year’s Day. The NYE headache will be more than just lingering so perhaps this is simply a get-out-of-jail card. Supposedly, if you do wash your clothes, you’ll be washing someone out of your life in the year ahead. Maybe this one could be intentional, so if so, wash away!

Then there’s the bread. Banging it off the walls or throwing it out the door to keep bad luck and hunger away. Completely mad. Deeply folkloric. Very Irish.

At midnight, some say you should open the front and back doors to let the bad energy out and the good in. I'm sure the rest of the family would appreciate the freezing cold wind flowing through the house as they try to wind-down after watching them ring in the new year on tele. Yes, some of us are that exciting.

Finally, the “first footer”. It's a belter. The first person through your door after midnight should be a dark-haired man for good luck. Nobody can explain why properly, which is usually a good sign it’s ancient. Or someone who fancies himself as tall dark and handsome made it up one night, and it stuck... Works for us.

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There's also a whole load more. Jump on the app to read some of those shared, and let us know what you've heard we should be doing, or not doing.

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