A simple question: what will you wear on New Year’s Eve? Probably a nice dress, a suit, or comfortable casual clothes. But what about… underwear? If you are from South America, this question will not even arise before you. In Sao Paulo, La Paz, and elsewhere, brightly colored shorts are the ticket to a happy year. Red – bring love, yellow – money.
Be that as it may, the New Year is always a new beginning, full of hopes for dreams and desires to come true, and it is also the time when we leave behind all sorrows, resentments and mistakes in the outgoing year. There are many standard attributes of the holiday: sparklers, fireworks, festivities until the morning … However, some countries can boast of extremely unusual and funny celebration traditions. So let’s go!
В Spain, during the chimes, it is customary to eat 12 grapes – for each fight. Each grape symbolizes good luck during each of the following months of the coming year. In Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities, revelers gather in the main squares to “honor the tradition” together, as well as drink Spanish Cava wine. Colombian adventurers, hoping for a year full of travel, go around the block on New Year’s Eve with … an empty suitcase! believers in Japan dress up in the costume of an animal corresponding to the zodiac of the coming year, and go to the local temple, where the bells chime 108 times. Unexpected but true: дatian New Year’s tradition is quite aggressive – throwing old plates and glasses at the doors of friends and relatives. In addition, a traditional Dane stands on a chair and jumps off it at midnight. It is believed that such a “jump into January” helps to expel evil spirits and brings good luck. AT юSouth African downtown Johannesburg, locals throw old electrical appliances out of windows. How amazing is this world! old Finnish the tradition is to predict the coming year by pouring molten tin into a vessel of water. The form taken by the metal is interpreted as follows: a ring or a heart – there will be a wedding in the new year; ship or ship – to travel; if the metal formed in the form of a pig, a lot of food is expected this year! In the distant and hot Philippines round shapes (reminiscent of coins) symbolize prosperity in the coming year. Many families put a mountain of round fruits on the festive table on New Year’s Eve. While some families do not stop there: they eat 12 fruits at midnight (this can be the same as in Spain, grapes). Several decades ago Estonians practiced seven meals a day (!) on New Year’s Day, so that the coming year would be rich in food. It was believed that if a person eats seven times that day, he will be strong for seven in the new year. AT Belarus, during the traditional celebration of Kolyada, unmarried girls play predictions about who will find family happiness in the new year. One of the traditions: in front of each girl they put a pile of corn kernels and release a rooster. To whose hill of grains he comes up first, she will marry sooner.