New Year’s Traditions

Special to Seniors Today
We are all ready to wish 2020 good-bye. Looking forward to a great 2021, maybe some of these traditions could be added to your New Year’s Eve this year.

Americans enjoy singing Auld Lang Syne and eat black-eye peas for good luck. Around the globe, other cultures welcome the start of the new year in their own unique ways.

In Greece, an onion is hung on the front door. It symbolizes rebirth in the New Year. On New Year’s Day parents wake up their kids by tapping them on the head with the onion.

It is thought to be lucky to wear special underwear on New Year’s Eve in Brazil and Central and South American countries. Red undies is thought to bring love and yellow will bring money.
Families in the Philippines believe that round shapes symbolize coins and prosperity in the new year. They may display piles of fruit on New Year’s Eve and at midnight eat exactly 12 round fruits (grapes are a favorite).

On New Year’s Eve, Scotland’s celebration of Hogmanay, first-footing, is honored. The first person who crosses a threshold of a home should bring a gift for luck in the new year. The Scots also have bonfire ceremonies where people parade while swinging fireballs on poles that is suppose to be the sun—to purify the new year.

The Finnish people cast molten tin into a container of water to predict the future. If the shape of the tin is a heart or a ring it means wedding, a ship means travel, and a pig says there will be plenty of food.

The Spanish people also eat grapes, one for every stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. Each of the 12 grapes give good luck for every month of the year. In the large city, people gather in the main squares and eat the grapes together and pass bottles of cava.
With the hope of travel, Colombians carry empty suitcases around the block.

Demark greets the New Year by throwing old plates and glassware against the doors of family and friends to banish bad spirits. Groups of people also stand on chairs and jump off at midnight to leap in the New Year in hopes of good luck.

Do you want to add any of these to your family and friend’s festivities? Happy New Year!