How to Have a Happy New Year Anywhere
Many New Year’s traditions that we take for granted date from ancient times. This year, ring out the old and ring in the new with a New Year tradition—or two! From singing “Auld Lang Syne” to eating black-eyed peas for good luck, discover different ways to celebrate the start of 2025!
Make Some Noise
Making a lot of noise and light—from fireworks to gunshots to church bells—seems to be a favorite New Year’s pastime across the globe.
- In Thailand, it was once tradition to fire guns to frighten off demons.
- In China, firecrackers routed the forces of darkness.
- In Denmark, they throw plates and glasses against each others’ front doors to banish bad spirits.
- In Ecuador, it is tradition to burn the effigies of famous people to destroy bad “juju” from the past year and start fresh.
- In the early American colonies, the sound of pistol shots rang through the air.
- In the United States today, many watch the ball drop in New York’s Times Square.
- In other countries, many folks wait for the church bells or the chimes of clock towers to ring out.
Eat Lucky Food
Many New Year’s traditions involve food. Here are a few:
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- In Spain, people attempt to eat 12 grapes during these 12 strokes of midnight! Tradition says that if they succeed before the chimes stop, they will have good luck for all 12 months of the coming year.
- In the southern US, black-eyed peas and pork foretell good fortune. See our recipe for Hoppin’ John!
- In Scotland—where Hogmanay is celebrated—Scots also hold bonfire ceremonies where people parade while swinging giant fireballs on poles!
- Eating any ring-shaped treat (such as a doughnut) symbolizes “coming full circle” and leads to good fortune. In Dutch homes, fritters called olie bollen are served.
- The Irish enjoy pastries called bannocks.
- Germans and Pennsylvania Dutch eat sauerkraut on New Year’s Day for good luck in the coming year.
- In India and Pakistan, rice promises prosperity.
- Apples dipped in honey are a Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) tradition.
- In Swiss homes, dollops of whipped cream, symbolizing the richness of the year to come, are dropped on the floors—and allowed to remain there!
Have a Drink
Although the pop of a champagne cork signals the arrival of the New Year around the world, some countries have their own beverage-based traditions.
- Wassail, a punch-like drink named after the Gaelic term for “good health,” is served in some parts of England.
- Spiced “hot pint” is the Scottish version of Wassail. Traditionally, the Scots drank to each others’ prosperity and also offered this warm drink to neighbors along with a small gift.
- In Spain, Cava (a sparkling white wine) is often served to guests for making toasts.
Give a Gift
New Year’s Day was once the time to swap presents.
- Gifts of gilded nuts or coins marked the start of the new year in Rome.
- Eggs, the symbol of fertility, were exchanged by the Persians.
- Early Egyptians traded earthenware flasks.
- In Scotland, coal, shortbread, and silverware were traditionally exchanged for good luck.
Put Your Best Foot Forward
In Scotland, December 31 is known as Hogmanay. Along with fireworks and fireworks, “First footing” (or the “first foot” in the house after midnight) is still common across Scotland. The first person to cross the threshold into one’s home, called the first footer, indicates the year to come.
Although the tradition varies, if the first footer is tall and dark, the year will be a good one. Of course, the entire spirit of a Hogmanay party is to welcome friends and strangers with warm hospitality and lots of kissing all around!
Turn Over a New Leaf
The dawn of a new year is an opportune time to take stock of your life.
- Jews who observe Rosh Hashanah make time for personal introspection and prayer, as well as visiting graves.
- Christian churches hold “watch-night” services, a custom that began in 1770 at Old St. Georges Methodist Church in Philadelphia.
- The practice of making New Year’s resolutions, said to have begun with the Babylonians as early as 2600 B.C., is another way to reflect on the past and plan ahead.
New Year’s Folklore
Some customs and beliefs are simply passed down through the ages. Here are some of our favorite age-old sayings and proverbs.
- On New Year’s Eve, kiss the person you hope to keep kissing.
- If New Year’s Eve night wind blow south, It betokeneth warmth and growth.
- For abundance in the new year, fill your pockets and cupboards today.
- If the old year goes out like a lion, the new year will come in like a lamb.
- Begin the new year square with every man. [i.e., pay your debts!] –Robert B. Thomas, founder of The Old Farmer’s Almanac
So, whether we resolve to return borrowed farm equipment (as did the Babylonians) or drop a few pounds, we’re tapping into an ancient and powerful longing for a fresh start!
Pondering a New Year’s resolution and a new start? Check out How to Make New Year’s Resolutions.
Victoria Doudera
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Has anyone heard or the New Year's Eve custom of Nimblefingers? When I was a child, we were instructed to leave an empty cookie sheet out on New Year's Eve. Overnight a tall thin man with long thin fingers and a tall had named Nimblefingers would fill the cookie sheet with candy and other goodies. I was told this was an old English custom, but, have as of yet to find anyone else that has heard of it.
I grew up having corned beef and cabbage on New Year's Day but my mother, and her mother and her mother, washed silver coins and poked them down into the cabbage. If you had money in your cabbage on your plate, then you'd be prosperous in the New Year. I was always told this was German but I can't find anything to confirm this.
I've read about this elsewhere, too, but it's simply not true that people in Denmark go around breaking plates and glasses on New Year's Eve.
I think we can all agree that the year 2020 has been troubling, and here's to the hope that 2021 will be better.
In the small city of Sweetwater, Florida, back in the 80s, on New Years when the clock struck 12, we ate 12 grapes, drank a little sparkling wine, and grandmother Ramona Lliraldi would toss out a bucket of water. Likewise, on my maternal side, grandmother Agueda Jimenez would do the same.These were traditions carried over from Spain, to Cuba, and into the United States.
I'm the Chaplain for Clan Leslie Society international and as for "First Footing", it was bad luck in the northeast of Scotland to have a woman or a redhead of either sex be the first person to come across your threshold after midnight on 1/1. An actual "industry" of First Footers arose - dark haired men carrying coal, dark bread, a piece of peat and whiskey - who were paid to be the first visitors to homes in order to ensure good luck in the new year. My husband is dark haired so we make him go outside and come in again right after midnight. I'm a redheaded woman, so..... ;0}
The Hub and I sleep through it. We Congratulate each other on the 1st for making it through another year and waking up, for the beginning of the next...
I watch the count down, blow up fireworks, and cross my fingers hoping that the police won't catch us. If we do escape the police, we'll have good luck for the rest of the day...
This article mentioned that it was a custom to eat pork and black-eyed peas on New Years Day. I have always heard that this tradition evolved form Sherman's March through Georgia during the Civil War. Because refrigeration wasn't available, armies were often forced to live off of the land so to speak; confiscating supplies from the locals (see plunder and pillage). The Union Army was no exception and their plight was doubly dire because virtually all of the rail road lines that could have brought supplies were destroyed. When the Union Army came upon a farm, they would often take the hogs and chickens for their own use. In order to lighten their load, they would often butcher the hogs on site leaving only the heads and entrails, thus the tradition of eating hog jowls came about. Most people have a better cut now days. The black-eyed peas are for luck because they are one of the few things that the Union Army left behind. Most of the Union soldiers had never seen black-eyed peas before and because of the large black spot on them thought that they were rotten. The New Year’s Day meal is rounded out with greens. They are traditionally collard greens, but some use mustard or turnip greens. The greens symbolize money.
Has anyone ever heard of eating pickled herring at midnight will keep money in your pockets all year?
