Unusual new Years Eve Traditions around the World
The clink of champagne glasses for a toast, a kiss stolen at midnight, belting out "Auld Lang Syne" - these are all cherished New Year's Eve traditions in the United States. And around the world, the last day of the year offers numerous cultures the tantalizing promise of starting a fresh New Year brimming with hope and possibility. Here's a sampling of unusual New Year's Eve traditions from around the globe that invite Lady Luck to be part of 2013.
Under where?
InSao Paulo,La Paz, and other parts ofSouth America, it matters less what's on the outside than, er, what's underneath. Traditionally, colorfulunderpantsare worn on New Year's Eve for good luck. People wearing red undies want a New Year filled with love. Yellow signifies a desire for money. Just how they determine who is wearing what color is unclear, and probably best left to the imagination.
Give them a break
If someone hurled dishes against your door, chances are you'd want to clobber them, right? Wrong, if you lived inDenmarkon New Year's Eve. Residents throw breakable dishes against each other's doors, and the person with the most wreckage on their porch is considered to have the most true friends. (Wonder if those "true friends" also help them clean up the mess.) Additionally, the Danish jump off of chairs at midnight, symbolically leaping into the New Year to ward off evil.
Going in circles
In thePhilippines, New Year's Eve traditions focus on anything round. On that night, polka dots are the pattern of choice, and round foods like grapes are gobbled up. Even arguments are circular. (Just kidding.) Filipinos do this as a tribute to the roundness of coins, and thus to wealth.
Heard it through the grapevine
New Year's Eve luck inSpainbasically comes down to an eating contest. According to Spanish tradition, 12 grapes must be eaten at midnight before the clock finishes chiming 12 times. Each grape symbolizes the 12 months of the New Year; a sweet grape represents a sweet month, and a sour grape heralds a month of less good fortune.
The heat is on
If you're lucky enough to be inPanamafor New Year's Eve, you'll witness the effigy burning ceremony. If you're unlucky enough to be a TV star, politician, or sports figure, you're fair game to be burned in effigy. Effigies symbolize the old year, and when they go up in flames they're purifying the New Year from evil forces.
Get tin in the spirit
If you live inFinlandand can get some molten tin (apparently a common household item), you can predict what the New Year will bring. The tin is submerged in water, and as it cools it assumes a shape that is then open to interpretation. According to this tradition, a pig shape equates to abundant food, a heart or ring shape signifies an upcoming wedding, and a ship means travel is on the horizon.
Diver Down
For three decades, one of the most dangerous and death-defying New Year's Eve traditions has been happening inRussia's deepest lake,Baikal. Divers wearing more than 220 pounds of equipment boldly cut through the ice-encrusted lake and dive an incredible 130 feet down. Why? To place a New Year's tree at the bottom so they can dance around it. Why? Because tradition is much more important than hypothermia!
Great balls of fire
The traditionalGermanNew Year's Eve festival ofHogmanaydates back to the Vikings, and is also rife with danger. Men surge through the streets swinging searing balls of fire above their heads for purification of the New Year. Another unusual German New Year's Eve tradition is called "first footing," in which the first person to cross another's threshold after midnight sets the tone for the entire New Year. A harbinger of good fortune is traditionally a tall, dark-haired man, but women or fair-haired men are considered unlucky in some regions. Pour all your bottles of bleach down the drain now, while there's still time!
These are just a few of the many unusual New Year's Eve traditions from around the world. Consider incorporating one of them into your celebration to make your own New Year's Eve memorably unique!
