New Year’s Across the Globe
The festivity of one year coming to an end and the start of a new one is celebrated with parties in all kinds of cultures. But that’s roughly all the similarities I can mention. The way people celebrate New Year’s, but even the date that marks the start of a new year differs quite substantially.
In East Asian countries they light fireworks on New Year’s, which falls on the first new moon on the lunar calendar, hence called Lunar New Year. The fireworks are meant to ward away evil spirits and houses are decluttered to start the new year fresh. The streets are filled with dancing dragons and lions, often in the colour red, as a representation of longevity and wealth. Whereas the Chinese cast away evil spirits, the Japanese welcome good spirits by laying out pine branches, bamboo and plum twigs around the outside of their home. In the Philippines, round shapes bring prosperity in the new year. That is why suddenly round shapes can be seen everywhere. To take it one step further, at midnight 12 pieces of round fruit are eaten (often grapes, 12 watermelons would be hard).
With the sun we move to the west, to see how New Year’s is celebrated in Europe. Even though we are in a different part of the world now, the Philippine tradition of the grapes is also a tradition in Spain. One grape is eaten at each clock stroke to represent a month of good luck and fortune the next year. Fit all of them in your mouth and your wishes will come true! Slightly less healthy but very true to form is the Dutch tradition on New Year’s Eve; eating lots of fried dough balls, called oliebollen (literally translated: balls of oil). Of course the Dutch are not that bland, we also offer fried pieces of apple covered in batter! Besides this fried festivity, the Dutch gather with their family and friends and have a good time whilst waiting for the countdown. At midnight (and often many hours before), fireworks light up the sky and people go outside to enjoy the colours. While breaking a plate would be considered an unfortunate accident in the Netherlands, breaking plates and glasses is very normal in Denmark on New Year’s. The sound of the plate breaking against a friend’s or family member’s door will ward off evil spirits. If you can still fathom the thought of more food after indulging yourself with the Christmas foods, you will be getting cake in Greece. The special thing about the cake is the coin made of gold or silver hidden inside. When you are the one with the coin in your piece of the cake, the coming year will be the luckiest yet for you.
Moving even further to the Americas, you will see a small selection of colours in Brazil and other South and Central American countries. First of all, wearing white on New Year’s Eve is considered to bring good luck and peace the following year. Secondly, red is thought to bring love, while yellow is thought to bring money. Life-sized dolls with masks are made on the faces of Brazilians, representing the negative things that happened that year. At midnight, the masks are burned to make room for new positive experiences. In a similar fashion, Mexicans throw out a bucket of water from their windows and open their front door to symbolically get rid of the year. Coins are also thrown on the ground, but swept back into the house as a way of proclaiming a prosperous year. While we are almost done with our New Year trip around the world to see how people celebrate this holiday, the people from Colombia carry around an empty suitcase in hopes of a travel-filled new year. Even though their suitcases are empty, the pockets are filled with lentils as they are supposed to bring luck.
We wish you all the best for the upcoming year!
XXX RedacCie
