The Literary Fly Fisher

Years ago, during my first visit to my wife’s hometown of Budapest, Hungary, we celebrated New Year’s Eve at the home of a somewhat shady businessman and family friend.  Just before the clock struck 12:00 AM, he had us all stand on the couches and clutch as much money as we could find.  At midnight, we jumped off the couches and into the New Year.  The idea was that the coming months would be filled with wealth.

My wife and I now do this every year, and it has become a tradition in the rest of her family too.  Of course, one can jump into the New Year with things that signify non-monetary wealth too.  As for the shady New Years Party host, who introduced us to this little ritual all those years ago … well, let’s just say that he’d best start jumping into the New Year with a key, since he is usually locked up.

Often times, I have been lucky enough to go fishing on New Years Day (and on the Winter Solstice too, which is a much more proper start date for each new year).  I’ll be doing that again on January 1, next week; I’ll be making yet another visit to my newly discovered, enchanted brookie stream. The tackle is packed, and I’m ready to roll.  Happily, I am heading to the mountains with my wife, daughter, and dog, too.  Therefore, I’ll be jumping into the New Year doing the thing that I love and also enjoying the company of those precious to me.

Photo of me on the enchanted stream, by Mike Sepelak

My own tradition, by the way, has been to always read Robert Burns’ classic version of “Auld Lang Syne” on New Years Eve.  I have already packed the 1920 copy of Burns Poems and Carlyle Essay, edited by George Marsh, that I have been sure to have in my back pocket every December 31, since 1992.

This entry was posted on December 29, 2012 at 11:50 PM and is filed under Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Literature, Fly Fishing Tackle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.