Weird & wonderful New Year traditions from around the world
The holiday season is time for celebrations and maintaining long drawn family traditions with the loved ones. Among them, Christmas and New Year traditions top the list. While some are popular like singing of the ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and New York’s Times Square Ball Drop, there are still many unknown traditions, both weird and wonderful, that people from different parts of the world follow. Here’s taking a closer look at some of them.
Nordic dessert tradition
In Nordic countries like Norway, Finland and Denmark, as part of their New Year’s celebrations, the people prepare a Nordic dessert called ‘kransekage,’ that is a tall, layered cake with marzipan frosting and often decorated with flags and other ornamental items. Such special is this tradition that every year the Queen of Norway invites royal guests from across the world to take part in their New Year’s traditions.
Street fights in Peru
As part of their New Year’s tradition, Peruvians organise fist fights on streets to settle old scores. They believe that this is how they can begin the New Year with a clean slate. This strange New Years tradition is part of their local festival called Takanakuy, that originated in Cusco, Chumbivilcas Province, but is now maintained all across Peru.
Eating a dozen grapes in Spain
In Spain, people start gulping down dozen grapes together, as part of their New Year celebrations, just when the clock strikes a dozen times at midnight on 31st December. People hope that this will keep their appetite levels alright and also ensure good health for the rest of the year. This tradition is also widely followed in Latin American countries.
Mexican colouring tradition
In Mexico, local residents believe that redecorating their homes with brand new colours, each of them representing hopes and desires for the new year will bring them better days. The tradition dictates that families come together and colour their homes on their own. For instance, if someone colours their home red, it means that they are looking for love, while yellow means people are looking for new job opportunities.
Hungarian Time Wheel tradition
All Hungarians believe that the famous Time Wheel or the national hourglass in the national capital Budapest stops working as it mysteriously runs out of sand on every New Year’s Eve. This is when, Hungarians come together to turn the wheel 180 degrees, so that the flow of sand can resume and it once again starts operating on New Year. People in Hungary believe that maintaining this tradition over the years has brought them peace and prosperity.