Tedtalks: Bang a Pot!
In parts of the Southern Hemisphere, where the New Year happens in mid-summer, one tradition is to wear white to the beach and jump over an incoming wave while clutching a flute of champagne.
Here in Humboldt, that’s a good way to find yourself too intimate with a cold sneaker wave — although that’s the goal in Scotland, where Edinburghers jump into the Firth of Forth. But Scots are crazy and proud of it.
In Spain, Italy and China, new red underwear is good luck for the new year. And the Irish set an extra plate at dinner for loved ones lost, and pound freshly baked bread on the outside walls of their homes to keep bad luck and evil spirits away.
People in many lands bang pots and pans out the front door at the stroke of midnight to frighten evil spirits and create positive energy for the new year. Some years, my mom was ticked off about dents in her cookware, though she was banging them along with everyone else.
Many West Coasters watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV at 9 p.m. so they can get to bed at a decent hour. I’m in favor of an early bedtime, but I’m of two minds this year about rushing into 2026. For me and many of us, 2025 has been a sad disaster and can’t be over too soon. But on the other hand, there’s much to fear in the New Year, so what’s the rush?
This issue of Senior News looks at the good and bad about transitions, not just at New Year’s, but whenever they occur. It is standard to resolve (and then forget) to do things differently in the New Year, to make our life better — like a plan to change your socks more often. Readers’ 2026 resolutions range from exercise and diet to world peace, learning to play an instrument or finally getting some dreaded dental work done (“One-Liners,” page 1).
John Ash finds hummingbirds a fit metaphor for the changing of the days and years. “Hummingbirds hover, taste, vanish. It’s like watching time itself take a sip and disappear,” Ash said. “There’s a certain wisdom in that kind of brevity. Hummingbirds don’t linger. They don’t overthink. They enter the moment, take what sweetness it offers, and move on.”
Ash’s article (page 1) is “a reflection on how we might face 2026 with that same lightness.”
Finding lightness of spirit can be a challenge, and there’s no guarantee that change at any time will bring anything better. The only guarantee, one reader said, is that we can’t make the past better, but we can do something about the now and the tomorrow. “Think Globally, Act Locally,” the bumper sticker says. Take that down to the individual level, give “The Gift of Friendship,” like the Boomer Troupers (page 4), watch a sunrise or sunset, smile at a stranger, give yourself and someone you love a quiet walk with the dog, sing with friends (page 3), take time for coffee with a buddy or to sit on a beach.
As we enter 2026 and all the joys and perils it portends, my wish for you is the gift of serenity, wisdom, courage and good humor. Change your socks and bang a pot!
Ted Pease is editor of Senior News.
