Holidays: New Year Celebrations Home: greenlightwrite.com featuring Buffalo Hunt this page! |
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Holidays: New Year Celebrations Home: greenlightwrite.com featuring Buffalo Hunt this page! |
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In the United States, New Year's Eve means champagne, fireworks, parties, resolutions, and parades. I did a little investigating and discovered fascinating ways that other countries welcome the New Year.* Enjoy, *Many cultures mark a new year according to traditional, moveable calendars. We've included the celebrations of those groups whenever they are actually held. |
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Austria - Austrians often eat pork because a hog roots in a forward direction, which represents the future. Lobster is a no-no since the lobster moves backwards. Bolivia - Small wood and straw dolls are hung in the doorway for good luck. Brazil - Those who are able go to the beach to watch fireworks while wearing white clothes to welcome the new year. Some jump the waves and throw flowers into the water while they make their wishes, others light candles on the shore. British Columbia, Canada - Brrr! You've heard of the Polar Bear Swim? The new year is the time when some brave souls leap into Vancouver's frigid water. China - For nine days of celebration, families gather together to talk and eat specially prepared food (chicken and fish). The children wear new clothes. Often, people attend a flower show. Columbia - They burn "Mr. Old Year,” a doll stuffed with old clothes and any sad reminders of the past year, to prepare for the new. England - Before the 1800s, brooches and gloves were the usual gifts exchanged. Nowadays, folks fill Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus in London, awaiting Big Ben's chime. France - Families gather to offer one another handmade presents and cards. Germany - Six onions are chopped in half to represent the twelve months of the year. The cut surfaces are sprinkled with salt. If the salt disappears after a short while, the month will be wet. If the salt remains, the weather will be dry. Greece - Cakes are baked with trinkets inside for luck. Around 600 BCE (BC), the Greeks began using a baby to represent the new year.
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Italy - Mistletoe is hung over the door for good luck. At midnight, old dishes are thrown out the windows to bring in more luck and welcome the new year. Japan - Families and friends gather to eat "soba,” Japanese noodles, at midnight. Temple bells are rung 108 times to represent the negative feelings that every person has within him or herself. The ringing of the bells is meant to erase those feelings. Three swallows of sake (rice wine) are drunk for luck. Greeting cards are sent and meant to be delivered on January 1st. Korea - Families watch a "striking-a-bell” ceremony. A bell is rung 33 times in memory of 33 fighters who died to restore the nation of Korea. People also make wishes for the new year while watching the sunrise. Younger generations bow to older generations in respect. The children are given money and often make and fly kites. Mexico - Families watch television and listen for 12 bells to be struck. A grape is eaten each time the bell rings for luck. Women hoping to find love in the New Year, wear red underwear. Some, hoping to travel in the future, walk around the block carrying a suitcase to help their wish come true. Russia - Toys and cakes are given to children on New Year's Day while Grandfather Frost and Snow Girl shake bells. Spain - Again, 12 grapes are eaten each time the chimes toll midnight, but this is so you will have money in the coming year. Taiwan - The boss of a company treats his workers to a large dinner and lottery. A whole cooked chicken is placed in the center of the table. It is spun and whomever the chicken's head points toward when it stops will be fired in the new year! Thailand - Their day of celebration is April 13th. It's called Song-Klarn Day. People throw water on one another and visit their grandparents. Turkey - Celebrants gather over a main course of turkey and don't decorate very much though they may put up a small pine tree. Venezuela - People wear yellow for good luck and drink champagne. They write their wishes in letters and then burn them all at the same time so no one will know what was written. Vietnam - They celebrate for ten days. At the stroke of midnight, the grandmother or mother lights a firecracker. They awake with the sunrise and put on new clothes. Although we all celebrate the new year in different ways, our wish for happiness, peace, and love is universal.
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