One of the most famous New Yearâs Day traditions is the midnight kiss. The first kiss of the new year with your beloved at the stroke of midnight is believed to nurture affection for the next 12 months.
The first guest in your home, sometimes called âfirst footingâ or a âfirst footerâ for the first person who steps foot in your home, also portends what kind of fortune you will have for the rest of the year, according to the Times.
15 New Year's Superstitions From Around the World
1. LATIN AMERICA // CARRY AROUND AN EMPTY SUITCASE
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.
2. SPAIN // EAT 12 GRAPES AT MIDNIGHT
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Some people guzzle sparkling wine at midnight on New Yearâs Eve, but in Spain (and in some Latin American countries, too), they stick with grapes until the clock is done striking the hour. Theyâll gobble 12 bits of fruitâone grape for each stroke of midnightâto ensure the next 12 months will be filled with luck.
3. ARGENTINA // EAT BEANS
In Argentina, beans aren't just prized for their fiber contentâtheyâre also considered to be a lucky New Yearâs Eve dish. Eating them right before midnight is said to provide job security for the coming yearâperhaps the most responsible tradition on this list.
4. BELARUS // HAVE A ROOSTER PREDICT YOUR LOVE LIFE
In Belarus, single women looking for lasting love sit in a circle, each with a pile of corn in front of her. A rooster is placed in the circleâs center, and the woman whose grain heap it pecks at first is believed to be the first of the bunch to get married.
5. CHINA // CLEAN THE HOUSE (BUT WATCH WHICH WAY YOU SWEEP THE DIRT)
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The Chinese New Year (known as the "Spring Festival") corresponds with the turn of the lunar-solar Chinese calendar, and technically isnât 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 doesnât 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 arenât supposed to clean their dwellings at all, to avoid sweeping away any lingering fortune.
6. DENMARK // THROW BROKEN DISHES AT YOUR NEIGHBORâS HOUSE
Most people toss broken dishes into the trash, but in Denmark, they dispose of them in a much more creative fashion. They save them, and on New Yearâs Eve, they toss the shards at their friendsâ and familyâs homes as a gesture of good luck. (No word on whether they volunteer to clean up the mess after.) Danes (and Germans) with less-pugnacious personalitiesâor simply weaker throwing armsâcan opt to
leave a heap of broken china on doorsteps, instead.
7. ROMANIA // PERFORM A CEREMONIAL BEAR DANCE
In Romania's eastern Moldova region, villagers dress in real bearskins and dance up and down the streets to ward off bad luck. The ritual takes place each year, between Christmas and New Yearâs Eve, and stems from an ancient Roma tradition.
8. THE AMERICAN SOUTH // EAT BLACK-EYED PEAS
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In America, many Southern families eat a festive New Yearâs Day dinner of collard greens, pork, and black-eyed peasâa type of legume with a distinctive black spot on its cream-colored shell. The latter dish is said to bring good luck (and whoever finds a coin hidden in the beansâ serving pot will have the most of it). Nobody quite knows where this tradition originated, but some people say it began after the Civil War, when Union soldiers stole all Confederate food supplies aside from black-eyed peas (thus making them âluckyâ). Another theory is that Sephardic Jewsâwho settled Georgia during the 18th centuryâate black-eyed peas to ring in the New Year, and brought the tradition with them to America.
9. SOUTH AFRICA // TOSS FURNITURE OUT THE WINDOW
In Johannesburg, South Africa, locals who live in the cityâs Hillbrow neighborhood toss old furniture out the windows, or off their balconies. Presumably, this act symbolizes shedding the old for the new, and embracing the promise of a new year. (Sadly, people have been injured from this practice, and the police have gotten involved, so think twice before emulating this one.)
10. ESTONIA // EAT MULTIPLE MEALS
In Estonia, people eat seven to 12 meals on New Yearâs Day to provide them with the strength of seven to 12 men. (They then, presumably, take seven to 12 food coma-induced naps.)
11. FINLAND/SCANDINAVIA // POUR MELTED TIN INTO WATER
In some Nordic countries, like Finland, people melt tin horseshoes, then pour the resulting liquid into cold water and watch it swirl into a new, solid form. The shape it makes is said to predict what kind of year youâll have.
12. BRAZIL // TOSS WHITE FLOWERS AND GIFTS INTO THE OCEAN
Many Brazilians believe that giving gifts to Yemanja, an Afro-Brazilian ocean spirit, on New Yearâs Eve will give them newfound vitality and strength. They travel to Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, and toss white flowers and other offerings into the waves.
13. ECUADOR // BURN A SCARECROW
To New Year's Eve revelers in Ecuador, a scarecrow serves as a symbol for the previous yearâs bad energy. They burn the straw effigy to promote a fresh, positive start to the year.
14. SCOTLAND // THE YEARâS FIRST GUEST BRINGS YOU GIFTS
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In Scotland, the first person to cross your homeâs threshold in the New Year is required to bring you an assortment of symbolic gifts: a coin, salt, bread, coal, and whiskey.
15. THE PHILIPPINES // MAKE LOTS OF NOISE
New Year's Eve is typically rowdy in most cultures, but people in the Philippines make
lots of noise. To scare off evil spirits, they bang together pots and pans, set off fireworks, and even shoot guns into the air.