There are a lot of great traditions to be found around the world. If you’re tired of watching the Ball drop or trying to find a taxi at 4am, consider these cultural New Year’s Eve traditions for a change in routine – and maybe some good luck coming your way.
Spain
The Spanish have an interesting tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight. Spaniards prepare for the “Campanadas”, or bell tolls rung on live TV and radio broadcasts across Spain with these grapes. This quirky custom traces back over a century to grape farmers looking for a clever way to sell off surplus harvest at the end of the year. Each grape represents good luck for the next 12 months. If the grapes are grouped together and fermented, we won’t tell.
Central/South America
We would hope you’re doing this anyway, given that it’s a new day, but it’s also a new year so people in Central and South America want you to wear new underwear – specifically, yellow underwear. Donning yellow underwear on New Year’s Eve represents prosperity.
Denmark
The Danish have a particularly fun tradition, one that some of us get to enjoy at weddings: smashing plates. The Danish save old plates and smash them against friends’ and families’ front doors to dispel bad energy. It’s a great way to get out some extra energy before the traditional New Year Queen’s Speech 2023.
Japan
The Japanese start the year off with a feast that is not just hearty but lucky. Osechi-ryōri is a symbolic and colourful array of lucky New Year’s foods. These small dishes are prepared specifically to welcome the new year and include dishes that are made not only with love, but health, success, long life, prosperity, and happiness, among others. These foods include black soybeans, prawns, herring soba noodles and seaweed. The array of colours from the ingredients also has significance – black, white and red food items symbolize the Japanese flag Hinomaru and national pride.
Philippines
In the Philippines, we have a more symbolic and calmer tradition. It’s tradition to light candles at midnight, which represents moving from darkness into light. Filipino families gather to partake in a feast carrying deep meaning and optimism for the coming year. The centrepiece of the media is a table set with traditional holiday dishes, often including pancit noodles, representing long life, round fruits symbolizing prosperity, and a ham signifying abundance. Once the clock strikes 12, fireworks blaze through the sky as families exchange hugs, kisses and warm wishes like “Manigong Bagong Taon!” (Happy New Year!). They may dance and merrily clink glasses filled with fruit juice or wine.
Netherlands and the UK
If you’re in the Netherlands, the UK, or indeed Iceland, you might have taken part in a New Year’s tradition to jump into ice cold water. The bravest of people jump into the water but you are permitted to run straight in and get out. Even dipping a toe might do the trick, since the idea is to expel bad energy. If the amount you shudder is directly correlating to the amount of bad energy leaving you, a toe in December water might do.
Ecuador and Colombia
In a move that a lot of us should maybe do anyway, Colombian and Ecuadorian New Year’s revellers break out the cardboard boxes and have a clear out. It makes sense. When is a better time to spark joy (or not) than New Years. You can get rid of anything dragging you down and make space for a better future.
