Rites, traditions and curiosities to receive the New Year
Soon the year will end and surely you already know how you will celebrate the beginning of a new year, but do you know how they do it elsewhere in the world?
While plucking the last sheet of our old calendar does not mean the solution to our problems or that the world will follow a better course, there is a charm in assuming that with the night of December 31 a cycle closes that gives us the opportunity to reinvent ourselves.
It is no wonder that around the world, beyond the mass festivities and fireworks, the change of year is wrapped in rites to attract good luck and encourage the coming year to be more favorable to us.
Below is an account of the rites and customs that people usually perform on the eve of the New Year both in Mexico and in the world.
1881 New Year's greeting card (Hulton Archive / Getty images)
Local traditions
Before proceeding further, we must clarify that many of these rites are not exclusive to Mexico, as many of them are shared with Spanish-speaking countries. The most common or famous are:
Running underwear
Surely you have seen it: as the end of the year approaches, yellow and red underwear is sold in the shops and stalls of the tianguis. Superstition says that that night should wear underwear depending on the course we want our life to follow. In this case, the red color (pink if it is leap year) is for those who want to find love, and yellow for those who seek to improve their economy.
Depending on the area or country where we live, there are other colors that augur other things, such as white peace, tranquility and purity; or black for sex.
Eat 12 grapes just at midnight on December 31
In addition to one month of the year, each grape represents a desire or purpose. There are those who eat them at full speed, as they say that if they are the first to do so, they will have good fortune throughout the year.
(Peter Macdiarmid / Getty images)
Sweep
It is also very common that during the first minutes of the year it is bar from the inside to the outside of a house. The purpose of this ritual is to take away the negative energies from our life.
A variation of this custom is to throw salt to the floor hours before midnight, so that the bad energies are absorbed and their expulsion on sweeping becomes more effective.
Running with suitcases
They say that if you want to have a year full of trips, in the first moments of January 1st you have to take some bags and run out into the street. The further you get with the suitcases, the greater the trips you will take over the next few months.
Rites IN Latin America
Traditions IN the World
Although the celebration of the New Year is universal, it is taking on the characteristics of each culture. Some of the most peculiar are:
(Andrew Theodorakis / Getty images)
Ded Moroz dances during a welcoming ceremony in Moscow, Russia. (Oleg Nikishin / Getty images)
(Jeff J Mitchell / Getty images)
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And these are some of the traditions and practices that take place around the world every New Year comes. Do you perform any ritual?
