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New Year in different countries - different New Year's traditions

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How do different countries celebrate New Year? We've done some research and offer some odd and exciting New Year's traditions in other countries. Of course, we also tell you about countries where we have celebrated New Year ourselves. Have you ever celebrated New Year abroad? Tell us about it!

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New Year in different countries

New Year is a big and important holiday in many parts of the world, but it is celebrated differently. Some countries, with different calendars, celebrate on completely different dates. Others celebrate at the same time ... but just a little differently.

Nyår i olika länder - fyrverkerier

New Year according to the Gregorian calendar

According to the Gregorian calendar, which is used in the Western world, New Year is celebrated on the night between 31 December and 1 January. There are slightly different celebrations in different countries, but some common features are:

  • Exclusive dinner or party
  • Festive clothing
  • Luxury food
  • Fireworks
  • Toasting champagne on the 12th stroke
  • Making New Year's resolutions
Nyårsmiddag

New Year according to other calendars

Due to the variety of calendars in the world, some countries celebrate New Year on a completely different date - sometimes in combination with the New Year celebrations on 31 December. According to an article in Kultursmakarna there are more than 45 different chances to celebrate New Year's Eve throughout the year. Here are some examples:

  • Chinese New Yearon a new moon between 20 January and 19 February.
  • Iranian New Year (Nouruz): at the spring equinox, around 21 March
  • Thai New Year (Songkran): 13-15 April
Nyår i olika länder - lyktor

Odd ways to celebrate New Year in different countries

If you believe various online articles, you can find some odd ways of celebrating New Year in different countries. However, most of the articles don't give sources, or simply refer to other similar lists, so it's a bit difficult to know for sure if everything is correct or still practised.

We have no experience of the following traditions ourselves and cannot vouch for their accuracy, but our sources are as follows CBC News, Fodor's and The CuTrip. Do you know any of these New Year traditions?

  • Grape eating at midnight in Spain is a tradition dating back to the 19th century, which was supposed to improve the harvest. A total of 12 grapes are eaten, one for each hour.
  • Celebration of a possum in Brasstown, North Carolina. is supposed to be a variation on the tradition of firing a ball down over Times Square on New Year's Eve. The possum is then released into the wild.
  • The right underwear colour in South America are considered to be able to influence the coming year. Red leads to love and yellow to prosperity and success.
  • Bearskin to drive out evil spirits in Romania is supposed to be an old tradition. Apparently you will see people dancing in bearskins in the streets.
  • Breaking of porcelain in Denmark is apparently a thing. The china has to be smashed against a friend's door, so if you have a lot of friends, there will be a lot of china smashing.
  • Round things in the Philippines is believed to bring money and prosperity, as its round shape resembles a coin. People like to wear flashy clothes and eat round-shaped food.
Vindruvor

New Year ... or Sylvester?

Have you heard of "Sylvester" (Silvester) at New Year? The first time we heard about it was when we were in Morocco just before New Year 2010. There were posters everywhere advertising Sylvester, and we wondered what they were advertising? The New Year celebrations of course!

If you look at the almanac, Sylvester's name day is on 31 December. The day is named after Pope Silvester, who died on 31 December 335 and is a saint in the Catholic Church.

New Year in different countries - here's how we celebrated it

As we often travel at this time of the year, we have celebrated New Year's in different countries, but this year we will be celebrating in Sweden. Here are the countries where we have celebrated New Year:

Have you ever celebrated New Year abroad? Tell us about it!

Nyår i olika länder

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