New Year Customs and Superstitions
New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.
- Hamilton Wright Mabie
One of the oldest holidays that find its origin in the harvest festival of ancient Babylon. This festival was eleven days long and was to celebrate planting of new crops. It started on March 23rd and meant freedom for all, during which King went away, only to return royally after the festival ended and people started work again. It was Roman emperor Julius Caesar, who invented the solar Julian calendar in 46 B.C. and assigned January 1 as the New Year Day. New Year traditions and celebration differ all over the world. Japanese New Year begins with everybody laughing at the exact moment to attract happiness to their homes and people hang a straw rope in front of their houses so that good luck can climb through the windows easily.
In British Columbia, Canada, swimming in the ice-cold water like a polar bear on New Year Day is said to bring in good luck. Greeks call New Year Day as Festival of Saint Basil and exchange gifts while Scottish know is as Hogmanay and burn barrels of tar as the symbol of Old Year and roll them through the streets. Chinese New Year is celebrated on the day of the new moon that falls between January 17th and February 19th and is known as Yuan Tan. In China, a street procession known as the Festival of Lanterns is taken out on this day. Vietnamese New Year is known as Tet Nguyen Dan and is celebrated between January 21st and February 19th and freeing a carp fish on this day, is said to bring good luck in Vietnam. Americans organize New Year parties for families and friends, take out parades and watch football. The common theme in all New Year celebrations remains hope and happiness all over the world.
New Year Superstitions
Drinking and kissing your spouse or life partner at the stroke of midnight is a very popular New Year superstition. Most superstitions, traditions and customs related to beginning of a year stems from the belief that whatever you do on the first day of the year will set the pattern for the whole coming year. Other superstitions are to ward off evil spirits and invite Lady Luck in our house. January 1st is supposed to be the most important day of the year as everything we do on this day is supposed to become a part of our life for the next 364 days.
Some popular New Year superstitions are:
- Avoid breaking things, crying and wailing on the first day of the year, if you don't want to continue the pattern for the entire year.
- Babies born on 1st January is said to be the luckiest of all throughout their lives.
- Do not let money, jewelry, precious items or other invaluable things leave your home on New Year Day. Do not pay loans and bills or lend things to anybody, if you do not want to show just-entered fortune the way to leave during the year. People go to the extent of not taking out garbage or even not dusting their carpets on this day to ensure that nothing goes out of home during the year.
- Dress well throughout the year by wearing new clothes on January 1.
- Evil One and his attendants and servants hate din and loud noise. So, scare them away by being as loud in New Year celebrations as possible. Church bells are rung at midnight for the purpose too.
- Full larders, cupboards stocked up with food and wallets and purses full of money bring prosperity in New Year.
- If you have to deliver presents on New Year morning, leave them in the car since New Year Eve on December 31st.
- If you must take something out from the home, let someone come with the present inside the home first.
- Never leave the home before someone comes in first. First footer in the house should be ushered in with a warm welcome and should not have flat feet, cross-eyes or eyebrows stretching out to meet in the middle.
- Pay your bills and loans before New Year Eve, so you don't have any debt left for New Year.
- People do not wash hair on New Year and wear festive red clothing for happiness all the year round.
- The direction of wind during sunrise on New Year morning prophesizes about the coming year. Wind from south foretells fine weather and prosperous times ahead, wind from north foretells bad weather, wind from east foretells famine and natural calamities and wind from west foretells plenty of milk and fish for all but death of a person of great national importance. No wind means joy and prosperity throughout the year.
- Token amount of work on first day of the year means advancements in career but starting out a serious work project is unlucky on New Year Day.
- Washing dishes and doing laundry on this day is said to lead to a death in the family during the year.
New Year Traditions & Customs
Traditions and customs unique to New Year celebrations not only add fun to it but also have an interesting history and origin attached to them. Many of these activities were just to make New Year events more entertaining. People organize mock combats to represent the struggles between seasons, Old Year and New Year and Life and death and throw water outside their homes and beat plants and fruit trees with sticks to ward off evil.
They burn effigies of the Old Year and set off fireworks at midnight to welcome New Year. Generally, Old Year is shown as a very old man in rags, with a white beard and a stick while New Year is represented as a new smiling baby in diapers. Greeks used baby to represent New Year around 600 BC as they took it as rebirth of the spirit of fertility their god of wine, Dionysus. Early Egyptians also thought baby to be a symbol of rebirth. Later, Christians used baby to symbolize the birth of the baby Jesus. Some other popular New Year traditions are:
- At the stroke of midnight hour, kiss your spouse or life partner to ensure that romance will favor your relations for next twelve months. The failure to observe this practice means the year may be full of icy stares and cold feelings.
- George Washington started the custom of 'open house', a party where anybody could come in and enjoy on New Year's Day.
- Good Luck foods on New Year include anything in shape of a ring or full circle as a symbol of complete life cycle. Dutch ate doughnuts and pretzels for the purpose. Legumes with ham is said to bring in luck and prosperity in many parts of US. Cabbage leaves are said to bring in paper currency while rice is also considered to be a lucky food on New Year's Day.
- First footing is a very popular tradition. It is said that Lady Luck likes a handsome, tall, dark-haired man for escort to step inside the home or the macho man who rides his way to your doorstep in horseback. So, the first person to step inside your home after midnight should be either of the two mentioned above. Others including blondes, redheads and women have to wait until such a person crosses the threshold of your home. To make it easier, people often make such a person stand just outside the home for an hour before midnight (known as the witching hour) and just as the clock strikes twelve, the person puts his steps inside the home and be the first visitor. The visitor should have a present in hand too, preferably a silver or gold coin to denote wealth coming inside the home throughout the year.
- Lonely people can ensure that something comes in their home at stroke of midnight by placing something in the basket just outside their door and attach a long string to it. Open the door at midnight and pull the thing over with the help of the string, without crossing the threshold.
- Open all doors and windows before midnight so Old Year can steal away from your home easily before the New Year steps in.
- People prepare dishes and put beans and black-eyed peas in it. In the New Year Feast, the person who gets them while dining is supposed to be the luckiest person at the table who will be the ward of Lady Luck and Lady Fortune throughout the year. The tradition originated in southern US.
Happy New Year In Different Languages
This is a list of how to wish 'Happy New Year' in more than twenty-five major languages of the world. Most cultures wish each other happiness, good luck, prosperity and peace in household while wishing each other. Being the beginning of an entire new year, it is seen as an opportunity to rebuild our lives, do away with old sorrowful memories and invite joy in our homes and wish that all are loved ones will also do well in the coming year.
- Chinese (Cantonese) - Sun nien fai lok
- Chinese (Mandarin) - Xin nian yu kuai
- Danish - Godt Nytår
- Dutch - Gelukkig nieuwjaar
- Farsi - Aide shoma mobarak
- French - Bonne année
- Gaelic - Aith-bhliain Fe Nhaise Dhuit
- German - Gutes Neues Jahr
- Hawaiian - Hauoli Makahiki Hou
- Hebrew - Shanah tovah
- Hindi (Indian) - Nav Varsh Ki Badhaai/ Naya Saal Mubarak Ho
- Hmong - Nyob zoo xyoo tshiab
- Indonesian - Elamat Tahun Baru
- Italian - Buon Capo d'Anno
- Japanese - Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu
- Norwegian - Godt Nyttår
- Pilipino (Tagalog) - Maligayang Bagong Taon
- Polish - Szczesliwego Nowego roku
- Portuguese - Feliz ano novo
- Romanian - La Multi Ani
- Russian - S Novym Godom
- Spanish - Feliz Año Nuevo
- Sudanese - Wilujeng Tahun Baru
- Swedish - Gott Nytt År
- Turkish - Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun
- Welsh - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
