As we close the curtain on 2017, plans for the New Year start to enter into our thoughts. Americans celebrate the holiday in many different ways, for some it is with fireworks on New Year’s Eve, others watch football games and others still eat a hearty bowl of black-eyed peas for good luck.  Everyone has their own way to mark the end of one year and the beginning of the next.  Some traditions surrounding New Year’s go a long way back, and we can’t remember exactly how or why they started.   

In many countries around the world, celebrating New Year’s involves doing something to obtain good luck.  In Spain, at the stroke of midnight, everyone eats 12 grapes as quickly as they can.  They believe that each grape represents one calendar month and if they eat all 12 grapes, they should be in good standing during the next year.  In Denmark, people throw plates and glasses at the front doors of their friends or relatives. The more broken glass and pottery found at the front door the next day, the more blessed that person is with friends.  In Estonia, people eat seven meals on New Year’s Day in the hopes of having a prosperous year.  Central and South Americans celebrate by wearing brightly colored underwear.  If someone is wearing red underpants, then they are hoping for love in the New Year.  If they wear green or yellow, then they are expecting money in the New Year.  

In some countries, the New Year’s traditions are meant to ward off evil. In the Philippines, the celebrations involve making as much noise as possible by lighting fireworks or banging together pots and pans.  In Romania, they have a different approach to scare away evil.  Everyone dresses up in a bear costume and goes out into the street dancing.  In Brazil, revelers go to the beach at midnight to jump over seven waves in order to keep on the good side of one of the sea goddesses.   

Whatever people do to celebrate, there is one common thread that unites everyone, and that is the hope they have for the New Year. People from all cultures share an optimism that the New Year will be filled with the good and anything bad will long gone.