Every New Year’s Eve, as long as I can remember, included watching the giant glitzy ball descend in New York City’s Times Square. Palpable excitement built as the minutes ticked toward 12 o’clock. Family, friends, and often, neighbors squeezed into one tiny apartment or another to celebrate the arrival of a new year. As midnight approached, my mother pushed a silver coin into my palm, directing me to hold onto it as we did the countdown. “For good luck next year,” she said.
My dad doled out the 12 grapes each person should eat, one grape for each month of the new year, according to his Italian family’s custom. The grapes (or lentils) meant prosperity through the coming year. Another Italian custom, apparently still carried out in the larger cities of Rome and Naples, calls for old objects (most times, crockery) to be thrown out a window. The significance? To get rid of useless and/or evil things and to create a fresh start. Much as this appealed to me as a child, the adults thought better than to toss anything out our apartment building onto the Brooklyn streets below.
Whether some customs seem silly, or pointless, in our overly “sophisticated” world, I love discovering the myriad ways people acknowledge a milestone. These traditions, observations, and customs are what keep us human. They help us find common threads among cultural differences. They keep us connected to those family members who’ve come before and may no longer be physically with us as another year draws to a close. Many of these traditions are also a means to bond with the next generation. While preparing to carry out my own New Year’s Eve customs, I looked at a few from around the world.
Symbolic Purification
There is the Polish custom of opening doors and windows to welcome in the New Year while bidding the old year goodbye. The Polish people also stress the need to pay off all debts, return borrowed items, and try to resolve arguments before the start of the next year. A symbolic purification ritual involves writing one’s problems and disappointments from the old year on scraps of paper, then tightly wrapping the scraps up in a box. Ensure a clean slate by burning the box or simply throwing it away.
In Brazil, people wear white and head to the beach to greet the new year. At the shore, revelers jump over seven waves to express thanks to the ocean goddess, Iemanjá, a figure in the traditional Afro-Brazilian religions of Candomblé and Umbanda.
Whiskey, Bells, Round Objects
In Scotland, one should expect good fortune when the first visitor to your home is a tall male with dark hair who brings offerings of shortbread, coal, salt, a black bun (a dense fruit cake often associated with this New Year’s tradition), and whiskey. Buddhist temples in Japan ring bells 108 times, the number representing the types of earthly desires. Each time a bell is struck, it’s believed one desire will be removed. Greek families hang an onion on the door of their homes for good health, fertility, and longevity. A belief in the Philippines acknowledges the importance of round objects in encouraging prosperity, so New Year’s celebrations feature 12 round fruits placed in homes and filling one’s pockets with coins.
A New Year, A New Canvas Every Day
I will continue my tradition of watching the ball drop and digging out a silver coin to hold. I’ll welcome the new year—and hopefully, prosperity—with 12 grapes. I’ve already written out my annoyances and disappointments from the past 12 months, threw the scraps into a box, taped it shut, and rather ceremoniously dumped it all into the trashcan. Let the new year, filled with 365 fresh canvases, begin!
Source:
https://time.com/6550868/new-years-traditions-around-the-world/
See other New Year’s traditions here:
https://www.almanac.com/new-years-traditions-around-world