Thinking Of How To Start Your New Year? Try These 7 Customs From Various Cultures Of The World!
New Year is just around the corner and we’re sure that you are as excited to welcome it as we are. The party invites are smiling on the side tables and your shimmery black dress is out too. In my family, we party our hearts out and welcome the New Year together, making it our family tradition where all the extended family gathers in one place and has fun.
Though most of my friends have a similar tradition, there are some cultures around the world which have very unique New Year’s traditions of their own:
1. Brazil
It is thought to be lucky to wear new underwear on New Year’s Eve in Brazil. The color of the underwear is decided according to the things that you want in the coming year. Red is thought to bring love in the New Year while yellow brings money. This tradition is also followed in Ecuador and other South American countries.
2. Columbia
Last year, some of my Columbian friends in the hostel carried their suitcases, climbed down the stairs, and went out. We thought that they’re going back to their homes and later realized that their suitcases were empty! Columbians celebrate their New Year by carrying empty suitcases around the block in hope of a travel-filled year. Now that is something that I would want to do too!
3. Denmark
This is the one custom I am going to force on all my family members this year. The people of Denmark stand on chairs and jump off of them together at midnight to enter the New Year with good luck. They also throw old plates and glasses against the doors of their loved ones to ward off evil spirits.
4. Greece
The Greeks traditionally hang an onion on the front or main door of their homes on New Year’s Eve. This onion represents rebirth and is hung to welcome the coming year with all its possibilities and new beginnings. To bring good luck and make the year fertile, parents wake their children up by tapping them on the head with that onion.
5. Spain
The people of Spain welcome New Year by eating 12 grapes- one at each stroke of the clock at midnight on New Year’s Eve. The 12 grapes represent good luck for the 12 months of the upcoming year. A similar tradition is followed in the Philippines where people eat exactly 12 round fruits at midnight as representatives of coins to symbolize prosperity in the New Year.
6. Scotland
People of Scotland celebrate New Year’s Eve by practicing the celebration of Hogmanay or the first-footing. The person who crosses a threshold of a home carries gifts for good luck of the family. In another tradition, people represent the sun symbolically at local gatherings and bonfires through giant fireballs. These symbols are supposed to purify the coming year and bring in good luck.
7. The United States of America
One of the most common traditions in the United States is eating black-eyed peas for good luck and singing “Auld Lang Syne” with family and friends to welcome the New Year.
Originally published at https://www.fuzia.com.