Most people drink champagne when the ball drops at midnight, but any drink will do just fine. For variety, you can provide wine, beer, and cocktails as well. Although the popularity of digital nengajo has risen among the younger generations, families still look forward to the morning of January 1 when that year’s nengajo arrive, neatly bundled, in the mailbox. Because laughter and joy are surefire ways to bring you closer, take a tip from the people of Denmark, and get in on one of their New Year’s Eve traditions. At the stroke of midnight, Danes are known to break a glass or a plate together to symbolize good luck for a new year.
The Koreans believe that one would get to earn one age if the soup is eaten New Year’s Day. They say if one dares to not eat the soup on New Year’s Day, then he or she will lose luck. In Central Asia, New Year’s Eve celebrations were inherited from Soviet traditions; thus they are similar to those of Russia.
Enjoy a pre-dinner drink or toast midnight at one of London’s sparkling champagne barsor swish cocktail bars. The New Year is celebrated first in Oceania, and the event is first celebrated on the small Pacific island nations of Tonga, Samoa, and Kiribati. New Zealand follows next in celebrating the New Year, followed by Australia, Japan, and South Korea, while the last place to celebrate New Year is Bakers Island which lies in the central Pacific Ocean. Another auspicious food but one that is almost universally loved, mochi in all its forms is a supremely popular dish during the New Year’s period. For a festive touch, try zouni, a soup with rice cakes in it, which is often served together with osechi ryori.
In Egypt the new year is celebrated with fireworks and often evening parties. BBC Scotland broadcast the celebrations in Edinburgh to a Scottish audience, with the celebrations also screened across the world. STV covers both worldwide New Year celebrations, and details of events happening around Scotland.
Or maybe they just involve impressively huge fires in public spaces. Regardless, it’s important to recognize why we celebrate the New Year the way we do. So let’s take a look at some of the more interesting New Year traditions around the world, and see how people will be ringing in the next year. Maybe we can find something fun along the way to adopt into our own New Year celebrations.