There Are Many Different Tradition That People Do On New Year’s Eve
By Hanna El-Amrawi
For many people the New Year is not another chapter in someones life. It's a chance to start over and have a new beginning with new resolutions, that will make the coming year filled with love and fortune. This idea of celebrating New Year’s Eve has been going on in some manner for over a millennia. Different cultures and regions have come up with different ways in order to make the coming year the best it could be. These customs range from eating grapes to wearing yellow underwear. Whatever the customs maybe, most rituals that accompany this holiday symbolize purging of the old year and ensuring good times in the new one.
Buying new clothes is a common ritual in most countries during the New Year. In Venezuela, wearing yellow or red symbolizes good luck in the coming year. For extra luck, people give each other yellow underwear. So next time the clock strikes twelve, make sure you show your friends that you are wearing yellow.
If you are spending New Years alone, and no one has passed by to give you that yellow underwear, well do not feel alone, look at your door step. In Denmark, it is a good sign to find your door loaded with a pile of broken dishes at New Year’s Eve. The more broken dishes you have on your door step, the more popular you are. Throughout the year old dishes are saved so that, on New Year’s Eve, people could throw them at their friend’s homes. So if your planning to head to Scandinavia during winter break, BEWARE from broken dishes. Make sure you clean up it up, so that your animals don't step on it.
When you were little, did you ever think that animals could talk? Well in Romania talking animals are considered a bad sign. When the clock strikes twelve, everybody gets quiet in order to listen to their animals. If their animals talk, then they will have a bad year and if they do not, then there year will be filled with love and fortune. Seems to me that these Romanians just want to be lucky!
Well if the animals do talk and you run out of luck, you can always follow the Spanish tradition. In Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, people eat one grape on midnight for every stroke of the clock, symbolizing luck and love for each month of the year.
With the leftover grapes you might want to add some strawberries and top it all off with some wiped cream. Well let us hope you dropped some cream on the floor while making your delicious fruit salad. In Switzerland, people allow a drop of cream to fall on the ground in order to ensure abundance in the coming year.
While many people wish for luck and abundance on New Year’s Eve, some people wish to travel in the next tweleve months. When the clock strikes twelve, Colombians and South Americans walk around their house with suitcases to ensure travel. So if you wanted to travel in the summer, you better have started packing your suitcase.
Let us say things did not work out and you didn't get to travel, well you would probably be very upset. In Ashikaga, Japan, people participate in the Akutare Matsuri, or the festival of Abusive Language. The Japanese climb a tall hill in order to reach the 1,200 year old Saishoji Temple while screaming and yelling at workers, teachers or politicians. After the outbreak, they enter the temple and take part in ceremonies that will allow happiness to flow in the coming year.
Whether you stuffed your face with grapes or listened for talking animals, the Journalism class would like to wish you all a successful year.
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