Thank you for the thread. I never would have suspected there is such New Year Folklore in Hungary.

There are quite a few regional ( or even sub-regional ) traditions in Belgium. Most involve cookies or sugar-rich foods. In the part I'm coming from that's ginger bread and candied fruit. This appears to be a remnant of a pagan custom dating back to the Roman period. However, this is mostly replaced by sums of money now... sign of times in a Europe that forgets its roots.

In the east of the country, the custom to eat a sauerkraut ( with a lot of pork in it ), placing a silver or gold coin under the plate to wish wealth and fortune is still quite vivid.

We have the same link between eating lentils and money,; only it is linked to good Friday