Top 10 New Years Eve Traditions

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Ecuador
celebrates a unique tradition on the last day of the year. Elaborate effigies, called Años Viejos (Old Years) are created to represent people and events from the past year. Often these include political characters or leaders that the creator of the effigy may have disagreed with. The dummies are made of straw, newspaper, and old clothes, with papier-mâché masks. Often they are also stuffed with fire crackers. At midnight the effigies are lit on fire to symbolize burning away of the past year and welcoming of the New Year.

In Brazil,
Paulista Avenue is a great New Year's Eve celebration, with large fires burning at midnight.

In Iceland,
Bonfires are also set in several places throughout the country and are often accompanied with shows, musical events and sometimes foodtables.

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The French call New Year's Eve "le Réveillon". It is usually celebrated with a feast called le Réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre. This feast customarily includes special dishes like foie gras and drinks like champagne. The celebration can be a simple, intimate dinner with friends and family or a much fancier ball (une soirée dansante).
On le Jour de l'An (New Year's Day), friends and family exchange New Year's resolutions and sometimes gifts. Some people eat heart or log shaped desserts, sometimes made of ice cream
The holiday period ends on January 6 for the Epiphany. On this day, they traditionally enjoy a type of cake that varies depending on where you are in France, resembling king cake in the United States.

It's a Greek tradition to serve Vasilopita (New Year's Bread) at midnight. This special bread is baked with a coin or charm hidden inside. The head of the household cuts the bread exactly at midnight and whoever receives the piece with the coin will have good fortune throughout the year.

In Italy, dinner, taken with parents and friends, usually includes zampone or cotechino (kind of spiced Italian sausage) and lentils.

In the Netherlands, New Year's Eve is called Oud en Nieuw ("Old and New") or simply oudejaarsavond ("old year's evening"), and is usually celebrated as a cosy evening with family or friends. Traditional snack foods are oliebollen (oil dumplings) and appelbeignets (apple slice fritters)

In the Phillipines, Filipinos celebrate New Year's Eve with the company of family and close friends. Traditionally, most households stage a dinner party named Media Noche in their homes. Typical dishes include pancit, Hamon and if the family could afford it, Lechón (roasted pig), which is usually considered as the centerpiece of the dinner table. Barbecued food is also an integral part of the menu.

In Turkey, small gifts are exchanged, and large family dinners are organized with family and friends, featuring roast turkey, a special Zante currant-pimento-dill iç pilav dish, dolma, hot börek, baklava baklava and various other eggplant dishes, topped with warm pide, salep and boza.

Spanish New Year's Eve (Nochevieja or Fin de Año in Spanish, Cap d'Any in Catalan) celebrations usually begin with a family dinner, traditionally including shrimp and lamb or turkey. Early next morning, party attendees usually gather to have the traditional winter breakfast of chocolate con churros (hot chocolate and fried pastry).

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Most Filipinos follow a set of traditions that are typically observed during New Year's Eve. Included among these traditions is the customary habit of wearing clothes with circular patterns like polka dots, this signifies the belief that circles attract money and fortune.

Spanish tradition says that wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve brings good luck.

In Venezuela, those who want to find love in the New Year are supposed to wear red underwear on New Year's Eve. Yellow underwear is worn to bring happiness in the New Year.

In Brazil, they usually dress in white, to bring good luck into the new year.

In Ecuador, one of the most popular traditions, wearing yellow underwear are said to attract positive energies for the New Year.

In Italy, tradition provides a set of rituals for the new year, as dress in red underwear or getting rid of old or unused items by dropping them from the window.

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In Russia a tradition is the 'Pizdets' - which involves checking your reflection in the mirror and shouting 'pizdets'- a common oath.

In the Phillipines, throwing coins at the stroke of midnight is said to increase wealth that year. Traditions also include the serving of circularly-shaped fruits, shaking of coins inside a metal casserole while walking around the house, and jumping up high which is believed to cause an increase in physical height. People also make loud noises by blowing on cardboard or plastic horns, called "torotot", banging on pots and pans in the belief that it scares away malevolent spirits and forces.

In Venezuela, those who want money must have a bill of high value when they toast at midnight, those who want to travel must go out from home while carrying some luggage.

In Canada, in rural Quebec, people ice fish and drink with their friends until the early hours of January 1.

In Ecuador; Walking around the block with the suitcase will bring the person the journey of their dreams.

In Hong Kong, the people usually get together in Central, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui to celebrate and to look at the night lights along the harbor.

The Irish call New Year's Eve New Year's Eve, or in Irish - Oíche Chinn Bliana, Oíche na Coda Móire or Oíche Chaille. Celebrations in major cities are modest. The beginning of 2009 was heralded only by the ringing of church bells.

In Mexico, traditions include sweeping the dirt out, taking luggage outside as a symbol of future trips, hanging sheep dolls (mainly made out of wool) in the doorknob for prosperity, among others.

New Year in Serbia is traditionally celebrated extensively. Indoors, families celebrate New Year's Eve with an abundance of food. Decorated "Christmas"-trees are predominantly related to New Year, hence called "novogodi%u0161nja (new years) jelka". Around or after midnight, "Deda Mraz" (Grandpa Frost) visits houses and leaves presents under the tree, to be unpacked then or, if the family is asleep, only to be discovered in the morning.

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In the United States, many religious communities have a tradition of New Year's Eve being known as "Watch Night". The faithful of the community congregate in worship services commencing New Year's Eve night and continuing past midnight into the new year. The Watch Night is a time for giving thanks for the blessings of the outgoing year and praying for divine favor during the upcoming year. Though held by some to have begun in the African American community, watch night can actually be traced back to a sect of Christians known as the Moravians who held the first Watchnight Service in Herrnhut, Saxony, in 1732. The practice was later adopted by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. Watch Night did take on special significance to African Americans on New Year's Eve 1862, however, as slaves eagerly awaited the arrival of January 1, 1863-the effective date of the Emancipation Proclamation. This particular New Year's Eve became known as "Freedom's Eve."

In Japan, the day is a preparation day to welcome toshigami, new year's god. Therefore, traditionally, people clean their home and prepare Kadomatsu and/or Shimenawa to welcome the god before New Year's Eve.
Buddhist temples ring their bells 108 times on midnight, during 31 December to 1 January. These bell rings are called as joya no kane in Japanese which means "bell rings on new year eve's night." Each bell rings represent 108 elements of bonno, defilements, or Kilesa in Sanskrit, which is said people have in their mind. The bells are rung to repent 108 of the bonno.

In the Netherlands, in Reformed Protestant families, Psalm 90 is read.

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In Austria they are drinking Champaign or other types of sparkling wine.

In the Netherlands, at midnight, Glühwein (bisschopswijn) or Champagne is drunk.

In Poland, drinking a glass of champagne exactly at midnight and raising toast for luck in the upcoming year is one of the most common small traditions.

In Spain, ffter the clock has finished striking twelve, people greet each other and toast with sparkling wine such as cava or champagne, or alternatively with cider.

Russians meet the New Year by drinking a special mixture of vodka, lime juice and the first tap water to be run in their home as the clock strikes midnight. The drink is known as Graznaya Voda (dirty water), and is believed to protect the drinker from bad luck all year round.

Dick Clark Seated 16x20 Photo

Germans call New Year's Eve Silvester. Since 1972, each New Year's Eve, several German television stations broadcast a short English theatrical performance titled Dinner for One[4]. A punch line from the comedy sketch, "same procedure as every year", has become a catch phrase in Germany.

Usually, people listen to radio specials, which give a countdown and announce the New Year according to the legal hour in Venezuela, and, in Caracas, following the twelve bells from the Cathedral of Caracas. During these special programs is a tradition to broadcast songs about the sadness on the end of the year, being popular favorites "Viejo año" ("Old year") by Gaita group Maracaibo 15 and "Cinco pa' las 12" ("Five minutes before twelve") who was versioned by several popular singers like Nestor Zavarce, Nancy Ramos and José Luis Rodríguez El Puma, and the unofficial hymn for the first minutes of the New Year is "Año Nuevo, Vida Nueva" ("New Year, New Life"), by the band Billo's Caracas Boys.

In the United States, from 1972 through 2007, Dick Clark hosted televised coverage of the event called Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, shown on ABC, and which was renamed Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest for the arrival of the new year in 2009.

In Turkey, television and radio channels are known to continuously broadcast a variety of special New Year's Eve programs, while Municipalities all around the country organize fundraising events for the poor, in addition to celebratory public shows such as concerts and family-friendly events, as well as more traditional forms of entertainment such as the Karagöz and Hacivat shadow-theater and even performances by the Mehter - the Janissary Band that was founded during the days of the Ottoman Empire.

In Japan, on TV, the Red and White Year-end Song Festival is an over 50-year-old tradition involving a singing contest between male and female teams of celebrity singers.

In Russia, many people however prefer to simply watch TV - the Pesnaya Goda "Song of the Year' show is very popular.

In the Netherlands, on television, the main feature is the oudejaarsconférence, a performance by one of the major Dutch cabaretiers (comparable to stand-up comedy, but more serious; generally including a satirical review of the year's politics).

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In New York City, in the United States of America, during the past 100 years the "ball dropping" on top of One Times Square, broadcast to all of America (and rebroadcast in many other countries), is a major component of the New Year celebration. The 11,875-pound (5,386 kg), 12-foot (3.7 m) diameter Waterford crystal ball located high above Times Square is lowered, starting at 11:59:00pm and reaching the bottom of its tower 60 seconds later, at the stroke of midnight (12:00:00am).

The Times Square shopping mall in Hong Kong also holds their own send-off to the ball drop held at the Times Square in New York City.

Who else drops things?

Sydney Harbour, NSW, Australia; Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Marquette, Michigan; Bradford, Pennsylvania; Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Charlottesville, Virginia, San Antonio, Texas, and Sacramento, California - all drop a ball
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada - "yellow bug" elevator on the Skylon Tower (raised)
Brooksville, Florida - a tangerine
Key West, Florida - a conch shell
Miami, Florida - an orange
Orlando, Florida - an orange
Atlanta, Georgia - an 8' tall and 8' wide, over 800-pound peach. The Peach Drop is the largest event of its type in the southeastern United States, and one of the largest in the country.
Tallapoosa, Georgia - an opossum
McDonough, Georgia - Nugget Drop at Truett's Grill
Ty Ty, Georgia - a Peanut
Gainesville, Georgia - a Chicken (started 2009)
Kokomo, Indiana - Aluminum 70-Pound Ball with 34,000 lights
Vincennes, Indiana (near Terre Haute) - Watermelons
Bangor, Maine - a beach ball decorated with lights
Eastport, Maine - a sardine
Winterport, Maine - Nana Del's Peanut Butter Cookies
Baltimore, Maryland - a disco ball
Easton, Maryland - a crab
Havre de Grace, Maryland - a wooden duck
Ocean City, Maryland - a beach ball
Point Pleasant, New Jersey - "The Millennium Mossbunker," a mossbunker fish (only for 2000)
Buffalo, New York - a lighted ball and, at one time, a Ford Edge automobile [14]. The Buffalo Ball Drop (formerly the 97 Rock Ball Drop), as it is officially named, is advertised to be the third-largest in the country, with 40,000 in attendance annually.[15]
New York City (rotating locations, Greenwich Village in 2009) - a lighted ukulele
White Plains, New York - a ball drops from a crane on the corner of Main St and Renaissance Square in downtown. The urban festival attracts 25,000 residents of Westchester County, New York. After the ball drops fireworks usually are deployed.
Brasstown, North Carolina - a live opossum in a cage
Black Creek, North Carolina - a large red heart
Mount Olive, North Carolina - a pickle
Raleigh, North Carolina - a 900-pound brass acorn
RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina - an oversized hockey puck
Elmore, Ohio - a sausage
Port Clinton, Ohio - a walleye fish, named "Captain Wylie Walleye"
Akron, Pennsylvania - a purple-and-gold shoe
Beavertown, Pennsylvania - a beaver
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania - a giant Peep
Blain, Pennsylvania - a cow made of wood, dropped from a silo
Carlisle, Pennsylvania - an Indy car
Cleona, Pennsylvania - a pretzel (raised)
Dillsburg, Pennsylvania a pickle
Duncannon, Pennsylvania - a sled
Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania - a giant M&M
Falmouth, Pennsylvania - a stuffed goat
Frogtown, Pennsylvania - a frog
Gratz, Pennsylvania - a wildcat
Halifax,Pennsylvania - a Hemlock tree
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - a strawberry
Hershey, Pennsylvania - a Hershey Kiss replica (raised)
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania - a lollipop
Ickesburg, Pennsylvania - a french fry
Johnstown, Pennsylvania- a pickle on your mexicans doorstep (raised)
Lancaster, Pennsylvania - a red rose (raised)
Lebanon, Pennsylvania - a 100-pound stick of Lebanon Bologna
Lititz, Pennsylvania - a Moravian star (raised)
Liverpool, Pennsylvania - a canal boat
Lewistown, Pennsylvania - a bag of Hartley's potato chips
Manheim, Pennsylvania - a ball (raised)
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - a wrench
Middletown, Pennsylvania - a SPHOCTAGON; i.e., a metal ball with blunted sides in the shape of a three-dimensional octagon
New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania - a huckleberry
New Oxford, Pennsylvania - an antique trunk
Newport, Pennsylvania - a plywood hard hat
Newville, Pennsylvania - a big spring
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania- a ball which looked like the planet earth, made of recycled materials (raised)
Port Royal, Pennsylvania - a sprint car
Pottsville, Pennsylvania - a bottle of Yuengling beer (raised)
Red Lion, Pennsylvania - a wooden cigar held by a lion (raised)
Richland, Pennsylvania - a cigar
Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania - a broasted chicken
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania - an anchor
Steelton, Pennsylvania - a steamroller
Strasburg, Pennsylvania - ping pong balls
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania - a chunk of coal that turns into a diamond at the bottom (discontinued)
York, Pennsylvania - a white african rose
Fredericksburg, Virginia - an illuminated pear
Mobile, Alabama - a giant electric Moon Pie (raised)
Fayetteville, Arkansas - a hog
Panama City, Florida - a beach ball
Pensacola, Florida - a pelican
Des Plaines, Illinois - a diamond
Manhattan, Kansas - an apple-shaped aluminum ball
New Orleans, Louisiana - A Gumbo Pot
Bartlesville, Oklahoma - an olive
Oklahoma City - a lighted ball is actually raised.
Austin, Texas- a Star representing the Lone Star State (however, this may have been retired as of 2006; the transition to 2007 was a simple mirrored ball.)
Houston, Texas- a Star
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin - a carp
Plymouth, Wisconsin - a big cheese
Flagstaff, Arizona - a pine cone
Seattle, Washington - the elevator of the Space Needle is raised, followed by a fireworks display from the landmark.
Orange County, California - an orange
Tempe, Arizona - an illuminated sunburst

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In Taiwan, the most crowded city is the capital, Taipei, where most people gather by Taipei 101 and shopping centres in its vicinity. The tower is located in the shopping and financial area of the Xinyi District. People gather around the streets of Taipei 101 as they count down. With each number they count, one of the layers of Taipei 101 (eight floors per layer) lights up until 0, when the fireworks shoot out from the top of each layer (eight layers excluding a layer under the antenna) in different directions.

In Lebanon, the synchronised final countdown is broadcast through the leading TV channel and the celebrations usually continue until sunrise.

In Spain, the actual countdown is primarily followed from the clock on top of the Casa de Correos building in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid. It is traditional to eat twelve grapes, one on each chime of the clock.

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London's firework celebrations centre around the London Eye. At the start of 2005, fireworks were launched from the wheel itself for the first time. The timing of the new year is usually indicated by the chimes on Big Ben.

In the Netherlands, many people fire off their own fireworks, which are on sale from a few days before; towns don't organise a central fireworks display.

In Turkey, the biggest celebrations taking place in Istanbul's Taksim, BeyoFlu, Fanta and Kadköy districts and Ankara's Kuzlay Square, which generally feature dancing, concerts, laser and lightshows as well as the traditional countdown and fireworks display.

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In the Phillipines, Urban areas are usually host to many New Year's Eve parties and countdown celebrations which are usually hosted by the private sector with the help of the local government. These parties usually display their own fireworks spectacle.
In Edinburgh the cannon is fired at Edinburgh Castle at the stroke of midnight and is followed by a large fireworks display.

In Canada, In the major metropolitan areas such as Toronto and Montreal, huge celebrations with music and fireworks are often held at Midnight.

In Iceland the biggest new year events are usually in the greater Reykjavik area. Icelanders are especially fond to fireworks and sometimes the firework shows can be considered tourist attractions. Fireworks are very popular in Iceland.

In Denmark, The climax is when the clock on the Copenhagen City Hall reaches twelve, and the thousands of gathered people at the city square cheer and set off their fireworks.

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Every year Berlin hosts one of the largest New Year's Eve celebrations in all of Europe which is attended by over a million people. The focal point is the Brandenburg Gate and the fireworks at midnight centered around that location. Germans have a reputation of spending large amounts of money on firecrackers and fireworks.

The local government of Jakarta often holds a music show, a new year's countdown, and fireworks party in New Year's Eve celebration. The events often held in Monumen Nasional, Taman Impian Jaya Ancol, and Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. In Jakarta, people celebrates New Year's Eve in Jalan MH Thamrin, with their families, siblings, or their friends more than two player friends dancer manager has ; Nikita Willy, and Cathy Sharon. Trumpet and fireworks are the most important things for Indonesian people to celebrate their New Year's Eve.

At midnight strike, fireworks are displayed throughout Italy.

Pagara (Red-firecracker-ribbons)New Year's Eve in Suriname is called Oud jaar which means old year. It is during this period that the Surinamese population goes to the city's commercial district to watch demonstrational fireworks. This is however, a spectacle based on the famous red-firecracker-ribbons. The bigger stores invest in these firecrackers and display them out in the streets. Every year the length of them is compared, and high praises are held for the company that has managed to import the largest ribbon.

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