Across the globe New Year’s is celebrated in boisterous style complete with a myriad of wacky traditions, lucky foods, dances, and songs.
Starting close to home, Americans descend on Time Square in New York City annually to watch the Times Square Ball Drop. An iconic event, the night features musical performances, celebrity hosts, drinking, and fireworks, all culminating in the Big Apple’s midnight ball drop. Attendees begin counting down the last seconds of the old year once the ball begins its descent. At the stroke of midnight, Americans kiss who they are next to and usually participate in singing the famed New Year’s song, “Auld Lang Syne.”
At midnight, in a celebratory gesture to the coming year, firearm-loving America enjoys firing rounds into the sky. (But please don’t do this as “falling bullits” can be super dangerous.)
Australians gather predominantly in their capitol city of Sydney to ring in the New Year. Each year a spectacular fireworks show is displayed over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Awash in the celebratory glow, the Sydney Opera House shines in the background.
Leave it to the Scots to take their New Year celebrations to the streets.
The Scottish favor street parties and fireworks when celebrating the New Year. In Hogmanay, Scotland, revelers hold torchlight processions through the city streets leading up to midnight. In Edinburgh, pipers and drummers guide torch-wielding parties through city streets the night of December 29. The following day, the procession ends with a dip in the usually frigid waters of the Firth of Forth estuary.
Like the Americans, the Scottish also enjoy singing “Auld Land Syne.” Another common Scottish tradition to welcome the coming year is called “first footing” and refers to being the first friend or neighbor at one’s home, arriving to offer a symbolic rather than monetary gift.
Hoping to start the year off fresh, the Scotts perform a “redding” or deep cleaning of their home. Special attention is paid to the fireplace where old ashes are cleaned out to symbolize a fresh start for the occupants of the residence.
In Ireland a place at the table is set to honor lost loves.
A beloved New Year’s tradition in the old country is that of leaving a plate set at the dinner table for any family members or friends lost over the last year. In what must be a real feast for the birds, the Irish also welcome the year in by banging bread on the outside walls of their homes to keep away bad spirits. Think of those crumbs!
Like many other celebrators around the world, the Irish perform a good old fashioned house cleaning to ensure the new year gets off to a good start.
For those who believe in the supernatural, Germany and Switzerland have got you covered.
BleigieBen or lead pouring, is the practice of heating up chunks of lead and then casting them into cold water as a form of divination. Hopeful to learn what will befall them in the coming months, the Germans and Swedes make guesses about the individual’s future based on the shape the cold water turns the chunks of lead into.
Denmark believes in quite literally jumping into the new year.
At the stroke of midnight, Danes will climb up on a stool, chair, or couch and then jump. It is considered to mean bad luck for the year ahead if one fails to take this living room leap of faith.
A messy tradition, the Danes also enjoy breaking plates on New Year’s. The reason for breaking plates is the belief that the act removes negative influences.
Marzipan shaped like a pig for good luck is the preference in Germany for New Year’s feasting, while in the Netherlands people enjoy treats of fried dough.
A tradition Americans should consider, Estonians eat several times during the holiday, believing the eater is gaining the strength of one whole person every time a meal is consumed.
In China, the New Year is celebrated between January 21st and February 20th. Known as the Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year, their annual festival includes colorful parades,
dancing dragons, fireworks, and family gatherings. Practicing the Chinese zodiac, every year is assigned one of twelve zodiac animals. Zodiac traditions vary widely in China. It is especially fitting for China to celebrate with fireworks as the festive explosives were first created in Liuyang, China during second century B.C.
Japan’s New Year celebrations involve a trip to the temple to exchange last year’s lucky amulets, called omamori, for new, also hopefully lucky ones. Following the amulet exchange, prawns, which are thought to mean long life for its consumer is eaten along with Kombu, or edible kelp, and herring roe which is believed to increase fertility.
Adhering to the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah, or the Jewish New Year, begins in September or October. Celebrations often involve reflection, prayer, and special foods. During the holiday season, Jewish families consume foods like apples or honey in hopes of a sweet new year.
Promptly at midnight in Spain, Spaniards consume 12 grapes, one for each stroke of the clock. The tradition is said to bring luck for each coming month of the New Year.
Twelve spoonfuls of lentils are eaten in Italy, one for each midnight chime.
In the northern region of Spain, a man with many noses known as L’home dels nassos appears at New Years. For those lucky enough to find the man with as many noses as there are days left in the year, it is said he will grant the finder wishes. Being as he appears on the last day of the year and is thus only in possession of one nose, he’s even harder to spot than Waldo.
Believing the color to be lucky, Italians and Spaniards don red undergarments for the new year.
Mexico’s New Year celebration is built around a desire for travel in the coming year.
Mexicans walk around with empty suitcases or set one in the middle of the room and walk around it. The idea behind this tradition is to attract travel and new experiences during the new year. Similar traditions are also practiced in Ecuador and Colombia.
During the New Year in Brazil, celebrators jump in the ocean wearing all white to symbolize good luck. Brazilians hold beach parties, music, and fireworks. The tradition of wearing white stems from an African diasporic religious celebration called Candomble developed in the 1800s in Brazil. The color white symbolizes peace and spiritual cleansing. A festival called Festa de Lemanja is held in honor of Lemanja, the Afro-Brazilian goddess of the sea. After running into the ocean, Spaniards then jump over seven waves right at midnight. With each jump, the swimmer makes a request to the deity for what they hope for in the coming year.
Polka dots rule the new year in the Philippines.
Filipinos believe wearing colorful round dots attract prosperity and good fortune for the wearer. Hoping to grow taller, Filipino children engage in a tradition of jumping as high as they can when the clock strikes twelve.
Sticking with their polka dot theme, Filipinos enjoy eating round fruits like oranges, watermelon, longan, grapes, and pomelos. Consuming round shaped fruits is thought to be lucky.
Heads up in Cuba, because if you aren’t careful, you might get a bucket of dirty water dumped on you!
To cleanse the home for the new year, Cubans gather evil spirits and bad juju energy from the last year and toss them right out the front door, usually inside a bucket of dirty water, during the countdown to midnight.
In Russia it’s all about silence- for twelve seconds, at least.
In the lead up to midnight on New Year’s Eve, Russians use the time to reflect on important events form the previous twelve months. Additionally, Russians observe the tradition of honoring twelve seconds of silence before midnight hits. During the silence, Russians make wishes for good health, wealth, and success.
When in Romania, the onion tells the weather.
An ancient tradition, Romanians make an onion calendar on New Year’s Eve that is said to predict how much rain can be expected in the coming year. The custom is believed to be rooted in Transylvania and involves twelve onions.
To make the calendar, Romanians take twelve onions, signifying each month of the year, and gently unroll the leaves. The onion foliage is arranged in the order of a calendar, and half a teaspoon of salt is then sprinkled over them. If, by the next morning, all the salt melts on specific months, it means Romanians should carry an umbrella for those upcoming soggy days.
A pomegranate smashing good time is had in ancient Greece to salute the New Year.
In a nod to the coming new months, pomegranates will begin popping up above doorways all over Greece as January 1st approaches. The custom, Podariko, aka “good foot” is designed to bring good fortune and fertility to the household. Just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, Greece turns off its lights and leaves the house.
Once outside, a decision is made by the family to determine who will next reenter the home, right foot first, to ensure the residents have good luck all the new year long. After the first individual has safely, and correctly entered the home, another member of the family takes the pomegranate down from the door with their right hand and pounds it against the front door. The more seeds spill out of the pulverized fruit, the better the luck for the new year.