New Year’s Eve is a time for joy, celebration, and reflection on the year gone by. As the clock strikes 12, people come together to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, with traditions that make it more enjoyable. From smashing plates in Denmark to looking for potatoes under your bed to burning effigies of everything that denotes negativity, our list of New Year traditions has it all. Join us on this festive journey as we explore New Year traditions from around the world and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of each country.
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18 unique New Year traditions, and what they mean
Spain: Eat 12 grapes to bring in the New Year
Eat 12 grapes to ring in a lucky New Year. People eat one grape (better chew quickly) at each stroke of midnight to guarantee themselves a year of fortune. It is believed that if you fail to consume the grapes by the time the new year rolls in, you are in for a year of misfortune.
Ireland: Find your special someone with a mistletoe
That’s right! The mistletoe you always associated with Christmas and a mandatory kiss under it can also help you find your future partner. In Ireland, it is believed that if you sleep with a sprig of mistletoe under your pillow on Christmas Eve, you will dream of your future partner.
It is also customary to bang on kitchen pots and pans at midnight to ward off the evil spirits looking to wreck your upcoming year. Another New Year tradition is to bang the outside of the home with bread to scare off evil spirits.
Japan: Trade in the old for the new
To celebrate the New Year in Japan, omamori, the Japanese charms that are said to bring good things for a year, are traded in at a local temple. People generally wait till December 31 to bring their old omamori to a shrine to be burned or replaced with a new one. You can even select specific charms based on your personal goals for the upcoming year, be it love, career, money, or more.
Buddhist temples in the country ring out 108 times in the lead-up to midnight, with the last toll coming in at the last stroke of 12. The tradition has been in place for centuries and is said to ensure that the next year starts on a positive note. Another tradition in Japan is of eating a warm bowl of long al-dente soba noodles, signifying prosperity and breaking away from the old year.
Check out our story on souvenir shopping in Japan.
Denmark: Smash some plates
While breaking a plate any other time of the year is bad, in Denmark, such an action at the doorsteps of friends and family is believed to bring good luck in the new year. It is believed that the more shards of china and glass that you have in front of your door the morning of the new year, the luckier you will be.
Danes also jump off chairs and sofas at midnight, signifying a figurative jump into the New Year.
Brazil: Jump over seven waves
In Brazil, you probably don’t need a reason to jump into the water for a quick swim. But on New Year’s, you have an added incentive to do so. Brazilians, especially those following the Umbanda religion, get into the surf on New Year’s Eve in a white outfit and jump over seven waves, one for each of the heavenly spirits. It is also believed that each wave you jump over grants you a wish! All the more reason to celebrate the New Year at the beach, if you happen to be in Brazil.
Scotland: Enter a house with a gift
In a bid to ensure good luck in the upcoming year, Scots practice “first-footing”, a tradition where the first person (preferably a dark-haired man) to enter a house on New Year’s must bring a small gift for good luck.
Mexico: Walk with an empty suitcase
In Mexico, those bitten by the travel bug and hoping to travel more in the coming year walk around the block with an empty suitcase. You can also set it in the middle of a room and walk around it to manifest loads of fun travel for the next year. Interestingly symbolic, isn’t it?
In another quirky tradition, it is believed that the colour of your underwear on New Year’s Eve denotes and grants different wishes. For instance, wearing red signified good luck in love, whereas white is for peace, yellow is for happiness throughout the year, and green is for wealth.
The Philippines: Round shapes to eat and wear
In the Filipino culture, it is believed that wearing clothes with round shapes, such as polka dots or mandalas, can help ensure prosperity and good luck in the upcoming year. Eating round fruits, from oranges to pomelos, is also considered a lucky New Year tradition across the country.
Cuba: Throw a bucket of water (and negative energy) out the door
Don’t be alarmed if you see buckets of water flying out the front door in Cuba. A New Year’s tradition here is to symbolically throw out bad energy and vibes of the old year out of the front door during the countdown to the New Year, making way for a New Year filled with good things.
Greece: Smash pomegranates
The Greeks consider pomegranates a sign of prosperity, luck, and fertility, and hang them from doors in preparation for the New Year. Just before the clock strikes midnight, all the lights in the house are switched off, and everybody comes out, so that a chosen one can enter it, right foot first, which is said to bring luck in the coming year. Another person will then smash a pomegranate to check how much luck the household will have. Needless to say, the juicier the fruit, the better!
The Greeks hang onions by their front door to ward off evil and welcome good fortune into their homes.
The US: Plunges into icy waters
A New Year tradition at New York’s Coney Island involves people plunging into the icy cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean on January 1. Some even manage to raise money for their chosen non-profits this way.
Finland: Cast molten tin to tell your future
This one is for those looking not just to influence their future but also to know exactly what it entails. In Finland, people cast molten tin into water and then interpret the shapes it forms to understand what the future might hold.
Colombia: Let the potatoes predict
Colombians who want to predict their financial prowess in the coming year leave a peeled potato, an unpeeled one, and a half-peeled one under the bed of family members. People have to pick one up without looking, and the potato they grab is supposed to predict how much wealth they can expect in the coming year. The unpeeled potato is said to bring good fortune, whereas the peeled one is believed to bring bad luck financially. The half-peeled one means a mix of both!
Estonia: Eat till you are fully stuffed
A favourite among gluttons like me, one of Estonia’s New Year traditions is to eat multiple meals on New Year’s Eve. People can eat their lucky number of meals and leave some behind on their plates for their ancestors. Estonians generally opt for between 7, 9, or 12 meals (tiny meals, probably) on the day, which are considered lucky numbers in the country.
Sweden and other Scandinavian countries: Find the peeled almond in the pudding
In Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark, a special rice pudding is prepared with a peeled almond in it. Whoever gets the peeled almond in their bowl is supposed to be assured of loads of luck in the upcoming year.
Ecuador: Burn evil
In Ecuador, effigies of politicians and other characters are filled with sawdust and burned at midnight in a bid to put an end to the negative events of the past year. People also try to jump over the fire 12 times for good luck!
Germany: Eat a carp
Cooking and eating a carp is a German tradition when ushering in the New Year. It is also considered good luck to keep a scale of the carp in your wallet/purse for bringing wealth and luck.
Russia: Add a special ingredient to your glass of bubbly
A popular New Year tradition in Russia is to write down a wish on paper before midnight, burn it to ashes, add the ashes to your glass of Champagne, and gulp it down right after midnight.
This story first appeared here.
Note : The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.