New Year Traditions Around The World

For most of us, New Year’s Day holds a special place in our lives.  There is something about beginnings which bring excitement, a feeling of newness and a sense of rebirth.  Around the globe, New Year’s Day is welcomed with joyful, hopeful and exultant festivities in optimistic anticipation of the coming year.  Let us trot around the globe to learn how different countries celebrate day 1 of each year.

UK

The New Year finds Britain in noisome revelry.  The people here meet the New Year with loud cheers and whistles, followed by drinking and the singing of that old Auld Lang Syne song.  There still remains, in some parts of the UK, the traditional New Year custom called First Footing.  This ancient custom says that to bring good luck to the coming year, a tall, dark and handsome man, with nary a word, should be the first person to enter the house, set a loaf of bread on the table, place some coals on the fire and serve a bottle of whiskey to the hosts.

Denmark

A most unusual New Year custom can be observed in Denmark.  Here, as in other Scandinavian countries, the New Year is met with feasting, drinking and festivities.  Yet there is still that old custom of throwing as many broken dishes as one can in the entrance.  For 12 months people would collect all broken dishes in time for this age-old tradition.  It is believed that the more broken dishes one has at the doorstep, the more friends he will have in the coming year.

Spain

When the clock strikes 12, people in Spain eat 12 grapes as fast as they can.  This ritual can be traced back to the ancient harvest seasons when people have to consume the bountiful grape harvest lest they just rot.  There will sound four high-pitched chimes which signal the start of the grape-eating frenzy.  It is believed that each grape a person eats represents a month of good luck.

Australia

The gaiety of New Year celebrations in Australia attracts 3 million visitors each year.  All-night partying is common, as are magnificent fireworks displays in the big cities of Sydney and Melbourne.  In Sydney alone, 80,000 fireworks lit up surrounding areas for up to 16 kilometers in radius.  The New Year’s Day is an outdoor celebration for most Australians, with many people camping out, strolling, cruising and just eating out.

Japan

In this oriental country, the New Year celebration has a touch of solemnity and religiosity.  People would offer prayers to the sound of chimes from temples.  Before the New Year comes, Japanese would do a major house clean-up in a symbolic effort to sweep away the dirt of the old year and usher in the freshness of the New Year.  Traditional Japanese foods are then served accompanied by gift-giving.