New Year's Day always represents new beginning, a time for hope and to aim for new goals for the coming year. Most people also see this festivity as a chance to drive away bad luck and pray for better things to come ahead.

Families from around the world also follow cultural traditions and local customs due to beliefs being handed down for generations. Although the practices may vary according to nationality or location, there is one thing that almost everyone prepares for during New Year.

There is a belief that certain foods can attract good fortune so these variety of edibles are always present on New Year's feast. Here are the ‘lucky foods' that are known to bring in good luck for the new year:

Grapes

Spanish and Portuguese make sure to stay awake on New Year's Eve, then at exactly 12 midnight, they munch on 12 pieces of grapes so that their lives would be filled with happiness throughout the 12 months of the coming year.

Beans and Greens

They must be eaten and serve for New Year because they symbolize money. Beans are small and they look like coins while greens resemble paper money. The seeds enlarged when cooked thus they are prepared with hope for more financial rewards.

Latin Americans have a special way of preparing their beans for the New Year and here they are:

Puerto Rico - rice and beans are combined to make Arroz con gandules.
Brazil - locals serve lentil soup for their first meal as they welcome the new year.
Portugal - black eyed peas are on the dining table along with potatoes and boiled cod.
Colombia - they serve bunuelos or beans made into breakfast fritters.

Noodles

They are long so they are associated with long life. The trick is to eat the noodles without breaking them --slurp whole noodles to live longer and have more luck.

Pigs

Instead of chicken, try pork. They symbolize progress because they tend to dig with their snout in a forward movement.

Fish

They always swim in schools and lay numerous eggs -- this gives the idea of abundance. The scales are also lucky since they represents silver and coins.

Classic cornbread

The yellow cornbread is associated with gold so eat a lot for a richer new year.

However, there are also foods that must be avoided for the New Year. According to Epicurious, these food items may lead to bad luck:

1. Lobster is a seafood that moves in backward movement and that could mean setbacks that can make life miserable.
2. Chicken is not good because it usually scratches backwards and this may make you have more regrets or tend to dwell in the past. Also, any bird with wings can take away good luck since they can fly so avoid serving them.
3. Cow - typically they stand still. You do not want to get stuck in the same place or make your fortune roll back backwards instead of moving forward.