Every country in this world celebrates New Year one way or another. Out of 195 countries in the world today, almost every country have different customs and traditions with regards to New Year’s celebrations.
Most countries have New Year’s Eve on 31st of December with New Year staring on 1st of January. But some countries have different calendar and thus different start of New Year.
China is probably the most famous country celebrating New Year on different date. Namely, their New Year celebration is on January 22.
Then we have Korea and Vietnam with the same date.
Israel, of course, have their own New Year by Jewish calendar. Their year begins on the first day of the month of Tishri which usually falls sometime in September or October.
There are also several other countries like India, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Iran, Thailand and Mongolia who either celebrates on different dates or have two different celebrations (one starting on 1st of January and other in different dates).
That’s mostly it regarding different dates of celebration. But when it comes to variety of traditions, well, this is completely different game. There are many traditions, some are really nice, some are playful, and there are those really weird and strange ones. We at CuriousMatrix.com love the weird and strange world.
Weird, strange and interesting traditions
So, in that sense, let’s look at 10 interesting traditions around the world:
- Italy is peculiar country when it comes to different traditions for New Year. We will name only couple of them as there are dozens. Wearing red underwear on New Year’s Eve night is one of them. People like to wear red undies in Italy on New Year’s Eve as they bring good luck. Well good luck with that. Another very interesting and somehow weird tradition in Italy, or to be more specific, Naples, is throwing old furniture out of the window. This in some way symbolize fresh start. I like the idea, but if everyone were to do that, well, then citizens of Naples would have big garbage problems on 1st of January.
- In Spain when the clock strikes midnight, people attempt to eat a grape exactly in time with each chime. If someone does not manage to eat grape at right time, they could be facing bad luck next year.
- In Argentina people are doing something similar as in Naples, Italy. They do throw things to symbolize leaving past behind but in this case, they do not throw old furniture but they shred old documents and papers.
- Denmark is an interesting one. They affectionally smash old dishes and plates against the doors of family and friends. Again, as in the case of Italy, many people are not following this tradition, because if everyone were to do the same (throwing dishes), it would not be pretty scenery the next day.
- Peru has the most interesting tradition on this list (for now). At the end of the year, people in this tiny Peruvian village fist fight to settle their disputes and differences. In that way they start the year off on a clean slate. But then again when you think about it – is it really a clean state if you started New Year with a fight? Hm…
- In Belgium they respect their cows and livestock. Namely, farmers tend to wish their cows a happy New Year. Now, that is one cute tradition for sure. It’s always nice to have happy cows.
- People of Thailand on the other hand like their water. Celebrating New Year they throw buckets of water at each other. Good one Thais.
- In Romania, similarly like in Belgium they somehow try to communicate with cows to bring happiness for New Year. If they are successful, following year will also be successful and happy. Now there’s a problem here – how do they actually define what is successful communication with cows? Nobody knows.
- In Finland, they try to predict the coming year by casting molten tin into a bucket of water and deciphering the resulting shape.
- And then we come to Chile. Some people of Chile really have interesting tradition. Namely, families spend night at the cemetery. Some people actually sleep directly at graves of their deceased loved ones.
Conclusion
So, there you go. Many countries, many different traditions. Some are strange, some are interesting. But at the end of the day the important thing is that people are happy and share good thoughts with each other.
At least for that one day.
From the CuriousMatrix team; Happy New Year, Voorspoedige nuwe jaar, Kul ‘am wa antum bikhair, Urte Berri on, Sun nien fai lok, Stastny Novy Rok, Sretna Nova Godina, Godt Nytír, Gelukkig nieuwjaar, Bonne année, Shana Tova, Felice Anno Nuovo, Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu, Felix sit annus novus, Sawatdee Pi Mai.
