Every country, every city, and every household has its own way to bring in the New Year – good luck foods, wearing new clothes, and wearing a particular colour are high on that list. No matter how you choose to celebrate New Year's Eve and New Year’s Day, whether it's with a lavish meal, a vacay or a quiet night at home, there are plenty of traditions you can adopt to go into 2023 with a fresh start and a subtle hint of luck to go with it.
1. Wear Polka Dots, The Philippines
In the Philippines roundness is thought to signify prosperity, so on New Year's Eve locals surround themselves with round shapes, by wearing polka dots, filling their pockets with coins or eating circular fruits. Stock up on everything round and dress up in dots if wealth is your New Year wish.
2. Eat Noodles, Japan
Right before the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve, the Japanese eat soba noodles. The Toshikoshi soba, which translates to a “year-crossing” buckwheat noodle dish denotes the crossing from one year to the next. Since it’s an easily cut long noodle, it signifies a letting go of the past year’s regrets, before the fresh start the new year brings.
3. Wear White And Jump Waves, Brazil
In Brazil everyone wears white for good luck and peace. Not too shabby for a tradition – matching white outfits make for aesthetically pleasing photos! Also in Brazil, if you head to the beach, you can increase your luck by jumping over seven waves. You get one wish for each wave, so this year if you are close to the beach you know what to do.
4. Eat 12 Grapes, Spain
In Spain, with 12 seconds remaining until the New Year, people eat 12 green grapes to bring good luck in the coming year. It’s thought to be bad luck if you can’t eat them all by the final midnight chime. But gobble them down in time and 12 months of good fortune will come your way.
5. It’s All About Potatoes, Columbia
On the last night of the year, Colombians place three potatoes one peeled, one unpeeled, and one half peeled under their beds. At midnight, they pull out the first potato they touch. Peeled means they’ll have financial problems, unpeeled indicates abundance, and half-peeled means it’s somewhere in between.
6. Smash! Like The Hulk, Denmark
Going around breaking dishware on the doorsteps of their friends and family can mean vandalism. But in Denmark, the more shards there are in front of your home the next day, the luckier and more well-liked you are.
7. Wear New And The Correct Colour Underwear, Latin America
Latin Americans, believe that the colour of your underwear can bring good luck to you in the next 12 months. Yellow is for luck, red is for love and white bring peace.
8. Choose Your First Guest Of The Year Carefully
In Scotland, the Isle of Man and some other parts of Northern England, locals believe that the "first footer" (first person) you allow through your doors in the New Year may set the tone for the coming months. Tradition in those parts of the world states to select an individual who would come with simple gifts of coal, salt, shortbread and whisky, representing the basic needs of heat, food and drink.
9. Decorate With Onions, Greece
To Greeks, onions symbolise good luck and fertility, because they sprout even when no one is paying attention to them. In Greece it’s tradition to hang an onion outside your door on New Year’s Day.
10. Save a Wish for Next Year
A tradition many households follow – write down a resolution, goal, wish or note to your future selves, put it in a jar, then save it for the year. On the next New Year's Eve, retrieve the jar and read the notes to see how far you have progressed.