New Year's Eve is one of my favorite times of the year. Since I can remember, I've been fascinated with one year turning into a new one. Seems magical at midnight with the whole world counting down and your calendars changing. A couple of years ago, we bought a new house. I wanted to bless it in every way possible in the new year. And, 2019 turned out miles better than 2020! I found my pictures and post from that year and have added a new goal to the list. The last on the list involves grapes, however, we won't be doing those this time since I'm not going out to one more grocery store this week. We'll do it next year. Celebrations may be smaller in 2020 but you can have fun at home with these simple traditions for New Year's Eve.
Travel
In many Latin American countries, New Year’s revelers with a case of wanderlust will set an empty suitcase by their front door (or even drag it around a room in circles or around the block) to conjure an upcoming year filled with adventure and travel.
Sweep and Clean Good Fortune
CHINA//CLEAN THE HOUSE (BUT WATCH WHICH WAY YOU SWEEP THE DIRT)
The Chinese New Year (known as the “Spring Festival”) corresponds with the turn of the lunar-solar Chinese calendar and technically isn’t celebrated until late January to mid-February. But just like in many Western countries, the occasion is marked with numerous traditions and superstitions. One good-luck custom is to clean your home from top to bottom as a way to usher out the prior year. But to ensure the good luck doesn’t accidentally get pushed out along with the bad, people sweep the home inward, collect the dirt, and dispose of it out the back door instead of the front one. And during the first two days of the New Year, homemakers aren’t supposed to clean their dwellings at all, to avoid sweeping away any lingering fortune.
Light a Candle
In Latin America, you can burn a white candle to get rid of negative energy and promote peace in your home.
Toss out the Old Year
Toss a cup of water over your shoulder to throw out the old year and usher in the new one. It was freezing outside that year and we ran onto our deck and quickly tossed the water over the side into the yard.
In the Graham house and growing up with my own family, we ALWAYS drink champagne. Never miss. We toast, drink, and kiss each other's cheeks. It's our tradition.
Open the Door to Good Fortune
Open doors and windows to let out the old year and usher in the new one.
Twelve Grapes
A New Year's Eve tradition of scarfing down 12 grapes for good luck.
featured on AtlasObscura
When clocks strike midnight on New Year’s Eve in Spain and parts of Latin America, many revelers are too busy to pop champagne, set off fireworks, or kiss their spouse. Instead, they’re stuffing 12 green grapes in their mouths—an attempt to ward off bad luck in the new year.
A common story traces the tradition of the twelve lucky grapes, or uvas de la suerte, to grape farmers in Alicante, Spain, who cannily suggested the idea when they had a surplus harvest to unload in the early 1900s. But according to food writer Jeff Koehler, newspaper articles about the tradition from the 1880s suggest it developed from Madrid’s bourgeoisie copying the French custom of drinking champagne and eating grapes on New Year’s Eve.
Either way, Spanish tradition eventually became a superstition that spread to Central and South America. Eating one grape at each of midnight’s 12 clock chimes guarantees you a lucky year—if and only if you simultaneously ruminate on their significance. (Each grape represents an upcoming month.) If you fail to conscientiously finish your grapes by the time the clock stops chiming, you’ll face misfortune in the new year.
Need to Know
While many people eat their grapes at home, plenty of squares, bars, and restaurants fill with people eating grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve.
Revelers around the world celebrate the new year in exciting and exotic ways. Do a little research and you'll find a long list of fun activities. I may mix up some of them next year for our family. Start the new year off with a bang!
