New Year’s Traditions From Around The World

Hearing about New Year’s Traditions from Around the World has always fascinated me. If you heard about eating 12 grapes when the clock strikes midnight or running around the house with a luggage or even wearing a particular color underwear, it all came from a cultural superstition. There’s nothing like that feeling going into the new year. We place all our energy, input & good spirits into making the new year even better. Improving upon ourselves and what better way than to share New Year’s traditions from all over the world? This gives you a great perspective on what other cultures value and maybe some inspiration to start adopting in your New Year’s traditions. Maybe you have heard of these traditions before, but I bet you, not all of them. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

New Year’s Traditions From All Over The World

• Spain: Eat Grapes for Good Luck
• Scotland: The first person that enters the house should be a dark-haired male for good fortune
• The Netherlands: Chowing down on Oliebollen
• Greece: Hanging onions to promote growth throughout the new year & pummeling pomegranates for good fortune
• Brazil: Throwing white flowers into the ocean (an offering to Yemoja, a water deity for her blessings)

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• Italy: Wear red underwear to conceive in the coming year
• Chile: Visiting cemeteries to include ancestors in NYE celebrations
• Japan: Eating Soba Noodles for a long and healthy life & ringing bells 108 times to cleanse the previous year of past sins
• Denmark: Smashing plates for good luck
• Ecuador: Burning scarecrows to cleanse the world of all the bad and make room for the good

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• Germany: Pouring lead to reveal a person’s fate
• Czech Republic: cutting apples to reveal fate in the shape of the core
• Turkey: sprinkling salt to promote peace and prosperity
• Estonia: Eating many meals (7-12) and leaving leftovers for ancestors to eat
• Armenia: baking “good luck” bread

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• Russia: planting underwater trees & drinking ashes of written wishes
• Ireland: sleeping under the mistletoe helps women find their future husbands
• Colombia: places three potatoes one peeled, one unpeeled, and one half peeled under their beds- at midnight pull out the first potato you touch. If you touch the peeled, means financial problems, unpeeled means abundance, and half peeled- somewhere in between 
• The Philippines: Serves 12 round fruits which are symbolic of coins hence wealth and prosperity

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There You Have It

Are there any traditions that you’re going to adopt going into the new year? Better yet, did you learn something new? Many of these surprised me, and better yet, I have not heard of them before. In terms of New Years traditons, I always eat 12 grapes. I have been doing it ever since I was a little girl, so it feels wrong to stop now. It’s become a part of the family tradition, and I can’t wait to pass it down for generations after me. I’ll have an unlucky year if I don’t eat them (not really, haha). Comment on your favorite traditions that I didn’t include, and Happy New Year!! Here’s a link for more traditions that I didn’t include. For 2024 resolution inspo, check it out here & here!

Veronica

Hi everyone! My name is Veronica, but you can also call me Vee! I grew up in the iconic city of Brooklyn, NY, the cultural hub of the world, and hence learned about so many different cultures. It was those experiences that inspired me to travel and from then on, I had learned the power of travel. In return, I want to give others that same experience, to help inspire others to unleash their inner travel enthusiast no matter the trip.

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