When the clock nears midnight on Dec. 31, the rituals begin. Some are loud—fireworks, bonfires, breaking plates. Others are quiet—writing wishes, cutting fruit, lighting candles—small acts meant to shape the year ahead.
Across cultures, New Year’s Eve has long been a moment not just for celebration, but for symbolism: gestures meant to carry fortune forward, push misfortune behind, or impose a sense of order on the uncertainty of a year about to begin. While champagne toasts and countdowns dominate many celebrations, traditions around the world reflect a far wider—and often older—set of beliefs about luck, abundance, and renewal.
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Read More: 10 New Year’s Traditions From Across the Globe
Smashing pomegranates and breaking plates
In Greece, smashing pomegranates against doorways brings symbolic abundance; the more seeds that scatter, the greater the hoped-for luck and prosperity.
In Denmark, revelers break plates and dishes at friends’ and neighbors’ doors. Some say it is a way to leave aggression and bad luck in the past, and others believe that it brings good fortune—the bigger the pile of broken pieces, the luckier you will be.
In Ireland, families bake Christmas bread and bang it against walls and doors to chase away evil spirits and invite good ones in.
Eating your luck
In Japan, the year ends with toshikoshi soba—“year-crossing noodles”—whose long, buckwheat strands symbolize endurance and long life.
In Brazil, prosperity seekers turn to pomegranates, tucking seven seeds into a pocket or purse for luck.
The Dutch mark New Year’s Eve with oliebollen, deep-fried dough balls whose roots trace back to ancient Germanic midwinter rites. According to folklore, eating the fatty pastries offered protection from the fearsome goddess Perchta, who was said to punish those who failed to feast during Yule.
In Estonia, abundance is taken literally: celebrants eat seven, nine, or 12 meals—all considered lucky numbers—to bring prosperity. Leaving a bit of food on the plate is customary too as an offering for visiting spirits of ancestors.
And in the Czech Republic, fortunes are read not in tea leaves but in apples. When cut open at midnight, if the fruit’s core reveals a star it signals health and good luck. But a cross-shaped core foreshadows that someone at the party will fall ill.
Dressing for destiny
In the Philippines, many people don polka-dot clothing and arrange round fruits on party tables to invoke wealth and good luck, as the round shapes resemble coins and are thought to symbolize prosperity. Typically, 12 round fruits are served, representing the 12 months of the year. The colors of the fruit also make a difference: green and purple symbolize prosperity, while yellow represents happiness.
Others around the world, especially across parts of Latin America and Europe, believe that wearing certain underwear colors will determine your fortune for the year. Wearing green will attract more wealth, red brings love, and blue invites stability.
Going forth with loved ones
In Chile, families usher in the New Year alongside those who are no longer with them. In the city of Talca, residents light candles at gravesites and hold midnight mass in cemeteries, allowing relatives, both living and deceased, to enter the New Year together. The tradition is believed to date back to 1995 after a family in Talca spent New Year’s Eve by the side of their late father’s grave.
Burning up the old year
In parts of Latin America, towering bonfires light up neighborhoods as effigies representing the “old year” are burned to cleanse away misfortune and make space for new beginnings. Called “monigotes” in Ecuador and “muñecos” in Panama, these life-sized effigies made from old clothes and sawdust and stuffed with firecrackers are often modelled after political or pop-culture figures, sometimes unpopular ones. At other times, they represent more general problems or the past year’s troubles. It is believed that the practice banishes the bad and makes room for the new.
Drinking ashes
A popular Russian tradition on New Year’s Eve involves writing down a wish, burning the paper, tipping the ashes into a glass of champagne, and drinking it before the first minute of the New Year has passed. If you finish the drink before the clock strikes 12:01 a.m., it is believed that your wish will come true.
Getting the first foot in
In Scotland, the celebration of Hogmanay stretches for days in cities like Edinburgh, where massive street parties and fireworks light up Princes Street. Part of the custom, known as “first footing,” holds that the first person to cross your threshold after midnight should bring symbolic gifts of good luck.
On New Year’s Day itself, many people across Scotland, often donning silly costumes, plunge into icy waters as part of the Loony Dook, meaning “lunatic dip.” The tradition was begun by three friends in the late 1980s as a means to cure their hangover after the Hogmanay celebrations on New Year’s Eve. The biggest event takes place at South Queensferry to the west of Edinburgh, but it’s become a popular tradition across other parts of Scotland.
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