The year 2024 is upon us, and ready or not, here it comes! While prognosticators try to make New Year forecasts, I haven’t a clue about the future. I do, however, have insights as to how we celebrate the arrival of the New Year, and there are some really cool celebrations around the world. It’s just how we humans mark the passage of time — our own imperfect artificial construct — as the universe goes on all around us.
We all know about the countdown, ball drop (or Sushi drop), champagne and the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.” Another tradition involves the New Year’s meal of Hoppin’ John with black-eyed peas, cornbread and collard greens. And thanks to CNN, we can tune in to fireworks from around the world as the different time zones ring in the New Year.
There are a lot of New Year traditions, some stranger than others. But all seem to be designed to help make the New Year as good as it could possibly be. Here are a few.
A common New Year’s tradition in Spain involves grapes. Each New Year precisely at midnight, Spaniards eat one grape for every month of the upcoming trip around the sun. This is meant to bring good luck and help wine makers get a good harvest.
If you wake up New Year’s morning to find a pile of broken dish shards outside your door, it’s probably New Year’s in Denmark. Danes have this tradition of taking unused dishes and hurling them against the front doors of friends and family. It’s a somewhat weird and destructive display of affection.
If you have the travel bug, and you happen to be in Colombia, you might find yourself carrying around an empty suitcase or two in a circle around your neighborhood at the stroke of midnight. Also in South America, the color of your underwear signifies what you truly want from the New Year: red means love, yellow means money, and white means peace. So don’t leave those favorite underwear colors in the suitcase.
Seeing that it’s summer in South America in January, a Brazilian tradition is heading to the beach. Immediately after midnight, people are supposed to jump seven waves and make seven wishes. Also, the wearing of white symbolizes purity for the upcoming year.
In Greece, Turkey and Armenia, there is a New Year tradition that involves smashing pomegranates. In Greece, pomegranates are crushed on the door, and the number of seeds that fall out signify how much good luck will come in the New Year. (They also hang onions outside the door on New Year’s Day — probably to hide the pomegranate stains.) In the other countries, pomegranates are smashed on the ground. The more pieces and seeds, the more good luck will follow.
In some places in Johannesburg, South Africa, people throw furniture out of tall buildings in a somewhat dangerous tradition. People would collect old chairs, sofas, and appliances and then toss them out of a window. The meaning behind this practice involved getting rid of old problems and making a new start. I just wouldn’t want to be walking outside in those neighborhoods on New Year’s Eve.
In Scotland, the last day of the year is called Hogmanay. Scots practice the tradition of “first-footing,” where the first person to enter a home in the New Year brings a small gift to guarantee good luck. Scots also stage large bonfires to commemorate the Vikings’ winter solstice celebrations. Italians also torch things — they burn an old man (signifying the old year) in effigy to get rid of the bad and open the way for good.
In the Philippines, round shapes are the symbols of success and wealth for the New Year. Given that it is the shape of coins, round is most certainly not square in the Philippines. The wearing of polka dot attire is often seen and encouraged.
No matter how you celebrate, we certainly wish you a happy and prosperous New Year. It is my hope that as another 365 days pass (actually, 366 — 2024 is a leap year), and another trip around the sun concludes, that the good in our lives eclipses the bad. May there be many more days ahead in which to celebrate the magic that is our everyday lives.
– Catch John live Wednesdays at Brutus Seafood, Thursdays at Sparky’s Landing, this Friday on US 1 Radio’s Morning Magazine, and Sundays at the Skipjack Resort Tiki Bar. Find his music anywhere you download or stream your music. www.johnbartus.com • johnbartus.hearnow.com
