New Year Traditions around the World
Whether it’s watching a firework display, sharing a meal with family and friends or throwing old furniture out the window, New Year’s traditions are unique to their country of origin, drawing upon objects, cuisines, and celebrations that are inherent to their culture. Generally, whenever they take place, New Year traditions are designed to bring luck and good fortune in the year ahead.
The earliest recorded New Year’s festivities date back to ancient Babylon, where the Babylonians celebrated with a religious festival called ‘Akuti’, a multi-day festival that honoured the rebirth of the natural world.
Whereas most festivities begin on 31st December and continue into the early hours of 1st January, some traditions such as the Chinese New Year begin on 1st February and lasts for ten days.
In South America, should you find yourself in Columbia celebrating New Years, it’s common for partygoers to carry empty suitcases in the hopes it would bring a year of travel whilst those in Ecuador would see out the year by burning effigies signifying burning of the ‘old year’. Natives of Brazil would be seen celebrating on beaches wearing white where they jump seven waves for good fortune and throw flowers into the water as an offering to ‘Lemanjá’, the goddess of the sea. Puerto Ricans will spend the last day of their year by cleaning not only their homes, but their cars, gardens and even the streets in order to do away with any bad ‘juju’ from the last year.
Cleaning is also present in the New Year celebrations celebrated by the Japanese. Known as ‘Oshogatsu’ it symbolises renewal, bidding farewell to problems of the previous year through a variety of activities and celebrations. Families would spend time cleaning together as well as welcoming the New Year with a bowl of Soba Noodles in a ritual known as ‘toshikoshi soba’ meaning year-crossing noodles. It is believed that the soba's thin shape and long length is meant to signify a long and healthy life.
Using food as a symbol at New Year is not uncommon and is integral to many European traditions. There’s a lot of food on the menu for those celebrating New Year in Estonia where people believe that eating seven, nine, or twelve meals will bring good fortune in the year to come. Don’t worry about the leftovers though, people often purposefully leave food on their plates in order to feed their visiting family members, the ones in spirit form, that is. Meanwhile, families in Czech Republic use apples to determine their fortunes by cutting them in half. If the core resembles a star then happiness and health is to come, however if they are met with a cross then someone present should expect to fall ill.
The Greeks not only hang onions on their doors as a symbol of rebirth for the year ahead, it is also customary for them to smash pomegranates against the doors of their houses. As a sign of fertility, life and abundance according to Greek Mythology, it is said that the number of seeds scattered as a result of the smashing directly correlates to the amount of good luck to come. Smashing pomegranates is arguably a much safer activity than what is seen in Denmark, where people take immense pride in the throwing plates and dishes at neighbours and friends doors as a means of leaving any aggression and ill-feelings behind. The bigger the pile of broken china outside your door indicates the more luck the New Year will bring.