One of my favorite New Year’s traditions is writing a consumer blog in my pajamas. It’s a tradition that goes all the way back to the old country (in my case, West Virginia.) Anyway, time to check in with New Year’s Eve traditions, some familiar, some downright NUTTY.
Auld Lang Syne: What’s the story behind this classic? Find out HERE.
Kissing at midnight: if you don’t, it’s “a year of loneliness” for you, according to tradition.
Black-eyed peas and collard greens: In the South, they represent pennies and dollars. In other words, prosperity!
Colorful undies: in Latin America, the color of your unmentionables at midnight will affect your fortunes in the coming year.
Ooh, MELTY! Those crazy Germans drop molten metal into a bucket of water, and whatever twisted shape it takes reveals your fortune for the coming year.
Fireworks: The Chinese invented them, and set them off at midnight to ward off evil spirits.
Polka dots: In the Philippines, the circle represents prosperity. So wear those dots. Similarly, the Filipinos eat round food, too!
The night for white: In Brazil, you wear white on New Year’s Eve. Otherwise, bad luck!
Renewal in Japan: New Year’s is super important in Japan. Lots of emphasis on flushing away the troubles of last year, and hoping for better in the new. Temples strike their gongs 108 times, to banish the 108 types of human weakness. Personally, I have 137 kinds of human weakness. So GET ON IT, Japan!
Burn that mother down! In the Netherlands, they build bonfires in the streets using their Christmas trees, while in Chile they torch scarecrows representing last year’s misery.
Watch for falling furniture: In South Africa, a potential new tradition of throwing old furniture out the window was quashed when someone was injured by a falling refrigerator.
Chew carefully: When eating New Year’s cake in Greece. One lucky person will find a gold coin, bringing good fortune in the New Year.
12 grapes: In Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, you eat one grape for every stroke of the bell. Statistically, it’s the New Year’s tradition with the most Vitamin C.
You dropped something! In Mt. Olive NC (oddly, the home of the Mt. Olive Pickle Co.) they drop a lighted pickle instead of a ball. Meanwhile, in Eastport Maine, it’s a lighted sardine! And in Brasstown, NC 25 years of tradition (and 25 years of controversy!) continues as the town lowers an opossum in a Plexiglas box (and PETA hates that!) Personally, I would be more offended by the Miss Possum beauty contest, in which burly truck drivers and lumberjack dudes compete in the evening gown competition!
So, we’re all from somewhere else… do you have any different or oddball NYE traditions to share? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a happy, SAFE New Year!