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The Washington Post

Nervous about the new year? You’re not alone. Around the world, there are countless new-year traditions centred on one shared hope: make it a good year, please.
Humanity’s tried-and-true superstitions come in all different forms, from house cleanings to warding off bad spirits, to eating certain foods or jumping around in a specific way.
Here’s a look at some beloved new year’s traditions worldwide.
Eat 12 grapes at midnight
This tasty tradition originated in Spain and is now practiced across Central and South America, from Mexico to Cuba. Each grape represents good luck for one month of the year. But luck does not come easily: Each grape must be eaten with each stroke of the midnight clock – 12 grapes in 12 seconds – in the first challenge of the year.
Pick underwear wisely
In Central and South American countries, such as Brazil and Ecuador, underwear colour can say a lot about what kind of year it could be: Yellow ones signify that good luck is coming, red ones love, green ones money and well-being, and white ones peace. For some of us, it probably can’t hurt to just wear all four.

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Eat lentils
Lentils are a new year’s super food. Italians often pair their lucky lentils with sausage or other pork dishes to signify a bountiful future. Brazilians and Chileans dine on lentils in the hope that the coin-shaped legume will bring good fortune. In Colombia, people fill their pockets with them on New Year’s Eve.
Run around with an empty suitcase
Hoping to travel this year? Then embrace this Colombian and Ecuadoran tradition of taking a lap around the neighbourhood with an empty suitcase to will it to happen.
Smash plates against the wall
Taking a cue from Denmark, save chipped plates and then smash them against the wall on New Year’s Eve. Luck-inducing or not, that sounds very cathartic.
Bang bread against the wall
Another interpretation: In Ireland, people bang bread against the wall to ward off evil spirits, and to ensure there’s plenty of it for the coming year.
Blow up an effigy of last year’s bad things
Grab an Año Viejo (Old Year) doll, attach fireworks or light a match at midnight, and watch all the bad parts of the past year burn away. It’s a tradition found across Central and South America, including in Colombia, Panama and Ecuador. These effigies are traditionally dressed in old clothes and made to represent a politician or another displeasing figure.

Eat special soba noodles
In Japan, toshikoshi (year-crossing) soba noodle soup is traditionally cooked up on New Year’s Eve. These prized noodles are long and thin and can be easily cut, symbolising a clean break with the past year, as well as a lengthy and prosperous life.
Eat bread or cake with a coin in it
There are many ways to go with this one. There’s vasilopita, a sweet bread made in Greece in honor of St Basil, or banitsa, a Bulgarian egg and cheese phyllo dough pastry. The only trick is to look out for the slice that comes with the lucky coin baked in.
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Eat anything round or coin-shaped
In Denmark and Norway, people dine on Kransekage or Kransekake, meaning wreath or doughnut cake, which is a marzipan-based tower cake built from stacked concentric rings and decorated with icing. In the Netherlands, oliebollen, or fried doughnuts, are another new year’s crowd favourite. The pomegranate, with its round shape and seemingly endless seeds of possibility, features in many communities’ customs, including in Armenia, Brazil and the Jewish new year. The Swiss drop a dollop of whipped cream onto the floor. In the Philippines, people eat 12 round fruits, one for each hopefully prosperous month of the year to come.

Be the first one to cross the threshold
As part of Scottish Hogmanay, or New Year’s celebrations, it’s good luck to be the first person to cross the threshold into a friend or family member’s home once midnight has struck. More fortune, according to tradition, is afforded to those who come bearing a gift.
Melt tin to see the future
In Finland, Germany and Austria, people melt tin, pour it into cold water and seek meaning in the shapes that form.
Stand on chairs and leap into the future
After smashing all the plates, some Danes stand on chairs and jump off as the new year hits.
Make noise
Scare away bad spirits or unleash a year’s worth of frustrations by making noise. In Japan, there’s Joya no kane, a Buddhist ritual of ringing temple bells 108 times on New Year’s Eve. Other communities around the world light fireworks and bang pots and pans together.
Wear polka dots
If you’ve already eaten all the round and coin-shaped foods you can find, try wearing polka dots for good luck, as people do in the Philippines.
Try again next time
December 31 may be important for the Gregorian calendar, but the world has many other calendars and new years to celebrate. There’s the Chinese, Jewish, Persian and Muslim new years, among others, for which communities have perfected the art of both celebrating the possibilities of life and being made to feel guilty for being alive.


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Religion

The weird, wonderful and tasty world of New Year’s good luck traditions

Revellers wait for the New Year celebrations in Times Square, New York. Photo: Xinhua

A Sri Lankan Buddhist lights incense sticks to offer a prayer during the New Year's celebration at the Kelaniya Temple, in Kelaniya, on January 1, 2020. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP)

(191231) -- PRIMOSTEN (CROATIA), Dec. 31, 2019 (Xinhua) -- People drag metal things to make noises during New Year's Eve celebrations in Primosten, Croatia, on Dec. 31, 2019. This is a traditional custom to bid farewell to the past year. (Dusko Jaramaz/Pixsell via Xinhua)

Soba noodles, at Cafe TOO in Island Shangri-la Hotel, Admiralty. 01 November 2005

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There are countless traditions for the turn of the calendar, from house cleanings to warding off bad spirits, to eating certain foods or jumping around in a specific way



The weird, wonderful and tasty world of New Year’s good luck traditions

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} There are countless traditions for the turn of the calendar, from house cleanings to warding off bad spirits, to eating certain foods or jumping around in a specific way

There are countless traditions for the turn of the calendar, from house cleanings to warding off bad spirits, to eating certain foods or jumping around in a specific way