International New Year's Traditions

We are creatures of habit, living in a world of tradition. Every country possesses different traditions and customs for ringing in the New Year—a cleansing of your house and body, a giant feast with family and friends, superstitious customs and fireworks are all staples of most locales. A closer look brings us around the world in eight stops through New Zealand, Malaysia, China, Russia, Scotland, Germany, Sierra Leone and Columbia.

Where:

Sitting 310 miles west of the International Date Line, New Zealand is the first place to ring in the New Year.

Special Traditions:
Like most places in the English speaking world, the Kiwis celebrate the New Year with large street parties, fireworks and carnivals. Many of the traditions and festivities come from the Scottish Hogmanay traditions (see below).

Where:
Chinese New Year starts with the new moon on the first day of the New Year and ends on the full moon 15 days later.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

Special Traditions:
All debts are paid by this time. Nothing should be lent on this day, as anyone who does so will be lending all the year. Everyone should refrain from using foul language and bad or unlucky words. Death and dying are never mentioned and ghost stories are really taboo. References to the past year are also avoided, as everything should be turned toward the New Year and a new beginning. If you cry on New Year's Day, you will cry all through the year. Therefore, children are tolerated and are not spanked, even though they are mischievous. The first person one meets and the first words heard are significant as to what the fortunes would be for the entire year. It is a lucky sign to see or hear songbirds, red-colored birds or swallows. It is considered unlucky to greet anyone in their bedroom, so everyone, even the sick, should get dressed and sit in the living room. Do not use knives or scissors on New Year's Day as this may cut off fortune.

While many Chinese people today may not believe in these do's and don'ts, the traditions and customs are still practiced. Most families realize that it is these very traditions, whether believed or not, that provide continuity with the past and provide the family with an identity.

Where:
Chinese New Year is based on the Lunar calendar and takes place on February 5th of the Gregorian calendar—that of the western world. As Malaysia and China share the same calendar, most of the traditions surrounding the New Year are also shared.

Special Traditions:
In order to drive away evil spirits, the entire house is dusted and swept. New clothes are bought to wear on the first day of the New Year. During the New Year’s celebration people visit their families, and married couples give out ang-pows (red packets) with money in them to kids and unmarried folks. Families get together for a big traditional dinner feast consisting of a hot pot of broth in the middle of the table surrounded by plates of raw seafood, noodles, fishballs, meatballs, veggies, etc. After dinner, a traditional dessert of longans and stuffed rambutans is served cold on ice.

The Lion Dance is held in local neighborhoods, with kids doing acrobatics such as jumping from pole to pole high above the street. Heavy drum music drives the parade along as it squirms through the streets, while fireworks go off all around.

Another part of the New Year’s celebration is the Lantern Festival. This historical festival marks the successful rebellion against a Mongol ruler dated back to 14th century China. A procession and a contest are held with kids and their plastic lanterns.

While ringing in the New Year, a lot of people go to the temples to pray. Large (people-sized), beautifully-colored incense is burned in front of the temples throughout the night and day.

Where:
In Moscow, the New Year is celebrated with a small artificial Christmas tree on a windowsill. The table is beautifully laid out with wine, champagne, vodka and delicious plates of food.

Special Traditions:
Families congregate to take shots of vodka, propose toasts and make jokes. At 12, champagne glasses are filled and raised as everyone waits for the Kremlin to finish striking the call of midnight. The last gong signals great cheer, kisses and embraces from friends and family. Fireworks are set off all over the city and kids run around with flares. Around this time, presents are passed out and a cheerful celebration ensues. There is a Russian proverb that states that you will spend your next year the same way that you spent your New Year’s Eve.

Where:
On the western horn of North Africa, the Mandigo tribe in Sierra Leone honors the New Year by celebrating what brings them life—water.

Special Traditions: They start by cleaning their houses, sweeping their yards and troughs and using new utensils to receive the new water. This is the end of their dry season and the time of year when seeds are sown. At the end of the dry season, high temperatures and little to no precipitation have left them with evaporated waterways, streams and rivers. The grass is scorched and most plant growth has stopped. The day-and-a-half New Year’s festivities celebrate the life the wet season brings to everything around them.

Where:
The New Year is celebrated on Hogmanay (pronounced hog-muh-NAY) which is the Scots’ word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. Its official date is December 31st (Old Year's Night). However, this is normally only the start of a celebration which lasts through the night until the morning of Ne'erday (January 1st) or in some cases all the way through January 2nd, which is a Scottish bank holiday.

Special Traditions:
There are many customs, both national and local, associated with Hogmanay. The most widespread national custom is the practice of first-footing, which starts immediately after midnight. This involves being the first person to cross the threshold of a friend or neighbor and often involves the giving of symbolic gifts such as salt, coal, shortbread, whisky and black bun (a rich fruit cake), all intended to bring different kinds of luck to the householder. This may go on throughout the early hours of the morning and well into the next day (although modern days see people visiting houses until January 3rd). According to popular folklore, a man with dark hair was welcomed because he was assumed to be a fellow Scotsman; a blond or red-haired stranger was assumed to be an unwelcome Norseman.

Where: The Germans call the New Year's Eve celebration “Silvester.” The term Silvester is used in certain countries (such as Germany, Austria, Poland and Israel) for the last day in the Gregorian calendar, December 31st, or New Year's Eve. The naming refers to Pope Sylvester I, who died on that date in 335.

Special Traditions: In many of the German-speaking areas, the change of the year is celebrated noisily and merrily. Guests are invited, and groups attend a “Silvester Ball.” There is eating, drinking, dancing and singing. It may be accompanied by the popular Silvester custom of Bleigiessen. A small piece of lead is melted over a flame in an old spoon and dropped into a bowl of cold water. From the shape it takes you can supposedly tell your fortune for the coming year. At midnight, when the old year is almost spent and the New Year is about to start, glasses are filled with champagne or wine, and toasts and hugs go with wishing each other a happy New Year. Many go out into the streets and listen to the bells ringing throughout the land. Others participate in shooting in the New Year, or put on their own fireworks.

Where: The traditions of Columbia are like a handful of exotic recipes: full of symbolism. First of all, there is a great celebration; a display of abundance and joy which should reflect all the positive energy. Tradition insists that the way you start the year is also the way you finish it.

Special Traditions: Yellow underwear: Worn inside-out or backwards, they’re supposed to bring year-round luck. How you receive the underwear is believed to make a difference, too: Receiving them as a present is said to be best.

Grapes: Eat 12 grapes when the clock strikes midnight. The 12 rhythmic dongs set the pace for you to eat as you make a wish for each month of the year. If there is no bell to follow, just try to be quick, as you will need time for other interesting tricks.
Trip around the block: Have your suitcases ready, and empty. After midnight a quick jog around the block with your luggage will boost your traveling chances.

Share the bills: Actual money should be crumpled and passed rapidly from hand to hand within a circle of trusted friends and family. It is supposed to protect the money you have and boost your business success.

Potato shuffle: This one is really interesting. Take three potatoes, fully peel the skin off one, half peel another and leave the third one alone. Then just toss them under your bed. At midnight, simply draw out one of the three potatoes. The meaningful results are based on potato skin being directly proportional to money: The more skin you have, the more money you will have. How is your New Year looking?

Sweep it out: Make sure you sweep your home thoroughly on New Year’s Eve. Stuck energy, as well as any dirt in your home, should be out before 12.

Grain on the table: You want to have abundance in your kitchen pantry. You can live without many things, but not without food. Be sure you have seven little piles of different grains on your table along with all the good things you will have for your supper.

The "Old Year": After 365 days many things have happened—good things and bad. These things have something in common: Humans are involved. Pick a bad event that affected you, your family or the world over the closing year, and make a real-size dummy of it, using old clothes, newspaper, some fireworks and whatever you want to stuff in the scarecrow body. At the strike of 12 gather your family and friends around the dummy and light it on fire. Seeing the character burn to nothing helps release the bad energy associated with it.