The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
The world’s weird (and wild) new year celebrations
From eating a dozen grapes to dressing up as bears, Sophie Dickinson reveals how cultures around the world will see in 2024
Ah, New Year’s Eve – in the UK, a time of music, fireworks, and plenty to drink. And when it comes to ritual, we are certainly not without the odd tradition. In Scotland, for example, there is first-footing – when it is said that the first person to enter the house after midnight should be a dark-haired male (reminiscent of the region’s Viking history, when a blonde visitor typically meant bad news) – and hogmanay, of course, an extension of this mixed cultural heritage, when bonfires and parades mark the general joie de vivre.
Otherwise, though, it must be said that our celebrations are rather on the mild side. Other countries take the countdown to midnight much more seriously. In South America, traditions include effigy-burning, paperwork snowstorms and walks with empty suitcases. In Europe, fruit seems to play a large role in the celebrations, while in the Philippines, it is all about beckoning in good fortune. Around the world, there are countless bizarre and beautiful practices intended to welcome the new year – here are some of the most peculiar.
Japan
108 bell rings
In the UK, revellers typically ring in the new year by singing Auld Lang Syne or watching the Hootenanny. In Japan, things are equally musical. Known as ōmisoka, temples chime their bells 108 times to indicate the number of worldly passions – with the final toll falling in the new year. The following day, people often make their first trip of the year a visit to a shrine. Particularly sacred ones are often so busy that extra public transport services are laid on.
Ecuador
Effigy-burning
Ecuador’s año viejo celebrations are slightly more involved. In smaller towns in particular, families create effigy dolls that are burned on a pyre at midnight. They often take the form of celebrities or politicians, or people who were heavily present in the media the previous year. Regardless of their fame (or relative popularity), the burning figures represent a refreshed new year.
Argentina
Tossing paper out of the window With fireworks, champagne and panettone, Argentina joins in with many of the world’s traditional new year’s celebrations. For the office workers of Buenes Aires, however, there’s a more occupational concern. People tear up their scrap paper – think old paperwork, unfilled-out forms, unneeded bits of bureaucracy – and scatter it out of the windows, creating a joyous, if slightly messy, snowstorm. It signals the start of the new year – and sounds rather liberating, too.
Greece
Onions
Many new year’s traditions around the world focus on the idea of rebirth – and in Greece, the expression of this comes in the form of the humble onion. Considered a symbol of growth and fertility, clusters of onions are hung from front doors (often after a family’s first church visit of the year) to promote personal growth for those within.
Czech Republic
Fortune-telling apples
In addition to being the first day of the new year, January 1 is also Czech Restoration Day, commemorating the splitting of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic (also known as Czechia) and Slovakia in 1993. On this especially important day, it is traditional to slice an apple in half and scrutinise its core: if there is a star shape in the centre, you can expect an abundance of happiness. A cross, however, is less good news.
Turkey
Smashing pomegranates
Things get rather more rambunctious when it comes to fruit in Turkey. Pomegranates are often involved in the celebrations as they are seen as symbols of bounteousness and beauty. The new year’s tradition involves smashing the fruit in front of your home as a way of bringing good fortune to the inhabitants (pmegranates are often given as gifts for the same reason).
Romania
Dressing up as bears
Various folk traditions across Europe see people dressing up as animal-spirit amalgamations – and in Romania, it is bears. At many end-of-year festivals and parades, groups dance through the streets dressed as grizzlies – many in costumes that are old family heirlooms and therefore real bearskins. This has understandably drawn some criticism from animal rights groups, making this a controversial but eye-catching tradition.
Spain
Grape-eating
As the clock strikes midnight in Spain, people might not immediately pop champagne or kiss their loved ones – instead, they eat 12 grapes to ward off bad luck. The tradition (which dates back to at least 1909, when entrepreneurial vintners started selling grapes from a bumper harvest) is thought to have started at the Puerta del Sol public square in Madrid, where the famous clock tower still chimes to mark midnight across the country.
Philippines
Round things
For those in the Philippines, the new year is all about round things. Specifically, it is about money: but other examples of circular shapes are found everywhere, from polka-dotted dresses to a feast of 12 round fruits. Filipinos also leave their lights on and their doors open, to signal a bright year ahead.
Colombia
Empty suitcases
It’s fun, it’s joyous, and it’s much cheaper than packing your bags and booking a trip for the new year. In Colombia, people take their empty suitcase for a walk around the block to inspire 12 months of travel. It might be too chilly to do the same at midnight in Britain, but the spirit is certainly something we can all get behind.