Popular yet Crazy New Year traditions!


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Here’s a short list of some unique, funny and amazing New Year traditions celebrated in different parts of the world.

In India we have our respective cultural New Year traditions on different days across the year. Gudi-padva, Vishu, Pohela Boishakh, Baisakhi and many more; which is why we don’t have any specific custom or ritual for the 31st of December.

However, across the globe there are several traditions that people follow for the New Year:

1.     The Ball drop at New York city’s Times Square is one very famous tradition where, a time ball located on the roof descends 141 feet (43 m) in 60 seconds down a specially designed flagpole, beginning at 11:59 p.m., and resting at midnight to signal the start of the new year.

The Time square ball drop at NYC.
The Time square ball drop at NYC.

2.     The Spanish have a ‘twelve grapes of luck’ custom, where they eat one grape at every stroke of the midnight bell. One lucky grape for each month of the year.

Spanish tradition of eating twelve grapes.
Spanish tradition of eating twelve grapes.

3.     If you want a year full of traveling, do it the way Colombian’s do. At the stroke of midnight, those who want to guarantee lots of travel in the New Year grab some empty suitcases and run around the block with them. The faster the would-be traveler runs, the more travel he or she can expect.

4.     In Ecuador they celebrate the New Year by burning paper filled scarecrows at midnight. Something like the tradition of ‘burning the old man’ followed in many Indian cities. If you celebrating your New Year the Ecuador way ensure that you have online back- up of all your memories because they also burn photographs from the last year.

Ecuador tradition of scarecrow burning.
Ecuador tradition of scarecrow burning.

5.     The Irish New Year tradition is slightly different. They bang bread against a wall, loudly. The goal of this ‘bread abuse’ is to drive out bad luck, and bad spirits, from the home.

6.     The Romanian’s believe that at mid-night the animals briefly attain the ability to speak (super strange, but true). If an animal talks, the hearer is in for an awful year filled with bad luck, but all will be well if the animal says nothing.

7.     In Japan they ring all of their bells 108 times in alignment with the Buddhist belief that this brings cleanness. It’s also considered good to be smiling going into the New Year as it supposedly brings good luck.

Japanese New Year bells.
Japanese New Year bells.

8.     One crazy new tradition is to equate underwear with New Years. Tradition in Italy, South America and Spain says that wearing red underwear on New Year’s Eve will bring prosperity, love, and the kind of generalized happiness that only red undergarments can ensure.

9.     In Bolivia coins are baked into sweets and whoever finds the coins has good luck for the next year.

10.                        In Denmark people climb on top of chairs and literally “jump” into the New Year to bring good luck.

Jumping into the New Year!
Jumping into the New Year!

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Ami Pandya

'Ever Learning, Ever Evolving, Never Giving up' sums up www.bms.co.in's Content Manager and passionate writer, Ami. She is a BMS graduate who has freelanced in the past with the top Indian newspapers and magazines. Apart from writing she also likes to indulge into travelling, photography and social work.

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