New Year

Tomorrow, the New Year's marathon will begin with festive salads, tangerines, traditional films, fireworks, and fun. Have you already prepared and decorated your Christmas tree? If not, for that case, we have a “Holiday Mood Checklist” that will help you tune into a festive mood.

Did you know that each country has its characteristics of celebrating the New Year? We have collected the most interesting of them in this article.

Jumping in New Year in Denmark

The Danes have an interesting tradition – when celebrating the New Year, they stand on a chair and jump from it to the floor. It is believed that in this way they can immediately land in January and ward off evil spirits from themselves.

Pomegranates in Greece

The Greeks celebrate the New Year in the family circle. Exactly at midnight, the head of the family goes out into the courtyard and smashes grenades against the wall of the house. They need to throw it as hard as possible because if the grains scatter around the yard, the family will live happily all year round.

New Year

A New Name Every Year

There are a large number of small islands in the Pacific Ocean, on which different states are located. Their group is called Micronesia. It is the inhabitants of one of these islands that have an interesting tradition to change their name every year. Of course, it is not rewritten in documents, but only reported to family and friends – according to legend, this helps to confuse evil spirits. Having woken up on January 1, family members tell each other in their ear their new names, which they invented. Sometimes it gets to the point of ridiculousness – for example, in one year, half of the villagers were called Michael Jackson.

A Fire Barrel on the Streets of Scotland

On New Year's Eve, the Scots set fire to a barrel of tar and roll it through the city streets. This is how they symbolically burn the old year and pave the way for the new one. And during the chimes on New Year's Eve, the owner of the house opens the door and keeps it open until the last blow is heard to release the old year and let the new one in.

Grape Snack in Spain

More than a hundred years ago, Spain had an ultra-high grape harvest, and residents came up with an interesting entertainment – on New Year's Eve, gather in the main square of the city and eat one grape with each chime. Since then, this tradition has been entrenched, and the Spaniards are happy to get together at midnight to eat 12 grapes for good luck.

New Year

Argentina Gets Rid of Old Documents

Traditionally, Argentine clerks on New Year's Eve threw out old magazines, calendars, letterheads, and other out-of-date papers through the windows. Sometimes this led to funny incidents. For example, once employees of a local newspaper threw out their entire archive, and employees of one special service threw secret documents out the window. Today, they try not to practice this, and there are fewer and fewer papers.

A similar tradition existed in Italy – in this way people got rid of old and unnecessary things, and at the same time had fun watching how passers-by reacted to it.

Three New Years in Thailand

Thais love holidays, so they are happy to celebrate three New Years. First, European, December 31, then – Chinese, which falls on the date between January 21 and February 21 (it is according to it that we determine the patron saint of the year – this year it is a tiger), and finally local – from April 13 to April 15. Moreover, the attributes of each holiday are also maintained following traditions: the European New Year is celebrated with Christmas trees and Santa Claus, Chinese – with flying dragons, decorations and outfits of bright colors (more often – red and yellow), and Thai – with watering each other and sprinkling colored paints.

A Peach Tree Instead of a Christmas Tree in Vietnam

Peach, apricot, and almond trees bloom during the New Year in Vietnam. Therefore, here, by tradition, people decorate their homes with flowering branches, symbolizing the beginning of a new one. Or they buy a young tree in a pot and set it up at home. City streets are also decorated with bouquets.

New Year

Burning a Christmas Tree in Ethiopia

In this African country, the New Year is celebrated on September 11 with the end of the rainy season. In honor of the holiday, Ethiopians assemble tall bonfires of eucalyptus and spruce, and then watch in which direction the top of the main fire falls. According to legend, in this direction the biggest harvest will be in the new year.

Iran: Wheat Instead of a Christmas Tree

According to the old tradition, the Iranians celebrate the New Year on March 21, the day of the solar solstice. A few weeks before, they plant wheat grains in small pots. The sprouts germinate exactly to this date, symbolizing the beginning of spring and the new year.

New Year

By the way, the tribes living on the territory of modern Ukraine, before the arrival of Christianity, also celebrated the New Year on the 20th of March, when nature came to life and woke up. And with the advent of Christianity, the New Year was postponed to September 1, according to Byzantine norms. According to the updated tradition, the New Year was first celebrated on December 31, 1699, after the corresponding order of Peter I. Then the trees were decorated with fruits and goodies.