Magical New Year and Christmas rituals fill us with warmth and bring us closer to our loved ones, and most importantly, create a sense of celebration. Instead of waiting for miracles and good vibes, why not start your own miraculous tradition this year? Here are some ideas from around the world.
One of the coziest New Year traditions exists in Iceland. On Christmas Eve, it is customary for families to give each other a book and a box of chocolates. Children and adults change into bright new pajamas, climb into a bed made with fresh linen, and leaf through books far after midnight, eating chocolate.
The craze for books in Iceland is incredible — more books are published than in any other country, and most of the new products are published during the Christmas season. There is even a special word for book-shopping «fever», Jólabókaflóð, or «Christmas book flood». Every Icelander receives at least one book as a gift. Especially for the New Year holidays, a beautiful book catalog is being issued to make it easier to choose a gift for relatives and friends. Which book to choose for wife/husband, children, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends is one of the most popular topics of discussion at the famous Icelandic hot springs, at home and at work.
- “The child does not know what to ask Santa Claus for!”
Instead of advertising TVs, phones and jewelry, teasers of new books are played on TV, the most interesting authors of the season are invited for interviews, and the most successful book covers are discussed.
The tradition of gifting books is most likely linked to the climate — the winter in Iceland is long, cold and dark, and to pass the time, villagers have long gathered around the fire and told stories to each other. Icelanders have a saying “ad ganga med bok I maganum” (“everyone carries a book in himself”, which means that everyone has something to tell or something to write a book about). It is not surprising that modern Icelanders are the most reading nation in the world. More than 50% of the country’s inhabitants read 8 books a year, every tenth Icelander is a writer.
Close neighbors, the Swedes, on Christmas Eve, sitting down to dinner, light a set of candles and bells with spinning angels on the table — from the heat of the candles, the angels begin to “fly”, and the bells ring melodiously. For most adults in Sweden, children’s memory of Christmas is associated with this “angelic chime” — like a Proustian cookie, the sound of bells through the years gives a feeling of warmth and love, security.
The tradition does not have to cost money — for example, in the United States, parents with small children, having dressed up a Christmas tree at home, arrange a «lodging for the night» under it for one New Year’s Eve. Sitting in a sleeping bag or wrapping yourself in a warm blanket, you can drink orange juice and sort through the most interesting memories of the past year — until your eyes close by themselves, tired of admiring toys and garlands sparkling in the dark …
Do you have your own interesting New Year’s tradition?