New Year celebrations around the world

COMMON resolutions concern diet, exercise, and kicking bad habits, with the first day of the year seen as a clean slate and a chance to start afresh.

Some New Year traditions from around the world may include:

• A gathering of loved ones, with champagne, feasting, confetti, noise makers, fireworks, parades, and concerts. Famous parades include London’s New Year’s Day Parade and the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

• Toasting – raising a glass in thankfulness for the past year’s blessings, and in hope of good luck for  the coming year. In some coastal regions, running into a body of water or splashing water on one another, symbolising cleansing and rebirth, is common.

Many nations and the cultures within them have their own characteristic way of celebrating:

AMERICA

Americans often celebrate with a party featuring toasting, drinking and fireworks late into the night, counting down the final seconds to January 1. Some might even get a kiss at midnight.

 Americans often make resolutions and watch the famous ball drop in Times Square, New York.   Although much of this celebration occurs the night before, the merrymaking typically continues into New Year’s Day.

Football is a common fixture on New Year’s Day in America, including the Rose Bowl.

FRANCE

The French typically celebrate New Year’s with a feast and a champagne toast, marking the first moments of New Year’s Day with kisses under the mistletoe, which most other cultures associate with Christmas celebrations.

The French also consider the day’s weather as a forecast for the upcoming year’s harvest, taking into account aspects like wind direction to predict the fruitfulness of crops and fishing.

PHILIPPINES

In the Philippines, celebrations are very loud, in the belief that the noise will scare away evil. There is often a midnight feast featuring twelve different round fruits to symbolise good luck for the twelve months of the year.

Other traditional foods include sticky rice and noodles, but not chicken or fish because these animals are food foragers, which can be seen as bad luck for the next year’s food supply.

GREECE

Greeks celebrate New Year’s Day with card games and feasting. At midnight, the lights are turned off, followed by the serving of Basil’s Pie, which contains a coin. Whoever gets the piece of pie containing the coin wins luck for the next year.

SPAIN

The Spanish celebrate New Year’s Day with the custom of eating twelve grapes, each eaten at a clock-stroke at midnight.

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