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Celebrating New Year’s Across the World
By Jacqueline Seewald
What does the New Year mean to most Ame-ricans? We tend to celebrate by going out on New Year's Eve to parties or night spots, blowing horns at midnight, watching Times Square on the television, and making resolutions we mean to keep in the coming year like losing weight, becoming physically fit or giving up smoking. We emphasize the joy of welcoming in the new year, but there is always a certain sadness at the passing of the old one. Newspaper and magazine articles review the changes of the previous year discussing politics, natural disasters, music and the arts, and listing of significant individuals who died during the past year. Often there are also articles on planned or expected changes in the coming year, such as the description of new laws that will soon take effect. It is a time for reflection and analysis in journalism. But the emphasis in American society is on enjoyment of life. One of our traditions, for instance, occurs in Pasadena, where the Tournament of Roses is held on New Year's Day, with revelers viewing the parade from the streets and watching on television, followed by the Rose Bowl football game.
In the eighteenth century, bands of men tramped from house to house between midnight and dawn on New Year's Eve in Pennsylvania's German communities. They shot off their guns, recited folk rhymes, and enjoyed hospitality from their neighbors. Some people opposed this, and in 1774, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act prohibiting random firing of guns on or around New Year's Day. In spit of the opposition, the custom of shooting in the new year lingered in some German-American communities until well into the twentieth century.
The year 1876 witnessed the first unofficial, New Year's Day Mummers Parade in Philadelphia. The custom continues to this day. Modern mummers compete with one another in four divisions: the comic, the fancies, the string bands and the fancy brigades. The comic clubs organize their displays around humorous themes and dress like clowns. The string bands are marching bands, costumed musical ensembles, featuring banjos and saxophones. The fancy clubs wow the audience with lavish costumes and floats while the fancy brigades, largest of al the clubs, showcase spectacular choreographed performers in elaborate costumes. Cash prizes are given to the most impressive presenters.
Making loud noises to welcome in the new year was also particularly popular in the South and the West. Rowdy frontiersmen on one occasion blew up a large stash of a gunpowder to create deafening noise. Some took to the streets popping inflated hog bladders, blowing on tin horns, ringing bells, firing guns, shouting, drinking, fighting and, in general, being drunk and disorderly.
How do cultures around the world celebrate this holiday? First of all, not all cultures celebrate the New Year on December 31st. Let's look at China for example. Chinese New Year celebrations were born out of fear and myth. According to Chinese legend, the wild beast Nien (which also is the word for "year") appeared at the end of each year, attacking and killing villagers. To scare the beast away, loud noises and bright lights were used and thus the Chinese New Year celebrations were born. The 15-day New Year festivities are celebrated with a week of vacation in metropolitan areas of China. Like our Western New Year, the biggest celebration is on the eve of the holiday. At the turn of the new year, fireworks cover the cities. On the fifth day of the New Year when many people go back to work, dancing dragons perform in the front of office buildings in the cities. On the 15th day of the New Year (Yuan Xiao Jie), there are also dancing dragon performances. The dragon represents prosperity, good luck and good fortune for the Chinese.
The Chinese New Year's Eve meal is the most important dinner of the year. It was common for families to gather at a relative's house for dinner, but more modern Chinese families these days celebrate New Year's Eve dinner at a restaurant. Like their American counterparts, many of the most popular restaurants require reservations months in advance. There are also some families that hire a professional chef to come cook at their house. Chefs are often busy running from one home to another cooking dinners for different families on New Year's Eve. There are also certain foods that are traditionally served by the Chinese on their New Year's Eve. Here are some: Eight Treasures Rice (contains glutinous rice, walnuts, different colored dry fruit, raisins, sweet red bean paste, jujube dates, and almonds); "Tang Yuan" - black sesame rice ball soup; or a Won Ton soup; chicken, duck, fish and pork dishes, "Song Gao", literally translates to "loose cake"- which is made of rice which has been coarsely ground then formed into a small, sweet round cake; "Jiu Niang Tang" - sweet wine-rice soup which contains small glutinous rice balls, a sweet soup made of cut-up fruit.
In Burma, the new year falls on the 16th of April every year. In fact the new year celebration in Burma is a 3-day festival. The 3-day new year festival in Burma is better known as Maha Thingyan. During this time of the year people clean their house holds, prepare traditional food items and exchange gifts between their loved ones.
In Armenia, children receive gifts, usually toys or sweets, on New Year's Day. This custom began during the Soviet era when government officials discouraged the celebration of Christmas. Instead, they promoted the celebration of New Year's, a secular holiday, and tried to transfer some Christmas customs to this date. Adults also exchange gifts on New Year's Day: flowers, alcoholic beverages and things made from silver.
Europeans have exchanged midwinter gifts with one another since ancient times. Until relatively recently, however, most of these gifts were given around New Year's Day rather than on Christmas Day. As Christmas became an increasingly important holiday, people began exchanging gifts on Christmas instead.
In Greece, people open their holiday gifts on January 1st rather than Christmas. January 1st is observed as St. Basil's Day. Children view St. Basil as the Christmas gift bringer. A special loaf of bread called vasilopita or St. Basil's Bread is shared. The head of the family blesses the bread then cuts and distributes it according to custom.
In Scotland, "Hogmanay," the Scottish name for the New Year, is celebrated. The Scots get two days public holiday to recover from New Year revelries while other parts of the UK only get one day. The Scots will be dancing energetically, staying up late, and drinking whisky. Hogmanay is one big party. It is hard, if not impossible, to ignore Hogmanay in Scotland. Houses everywhere are ablaze with festivities and just about every town and village in Scotland has some kind of street gathering. Edinburgh's Hogmanay is one huge New Year party consisting of four days packed with festive activities.
The name 'Cake Day' goes back to a time long ago when children could expect the gift of an oatmeal cake at friends' and neighbors' houses. Old Year's Night focuses on reminiscence, a remembrance of things past, which is the basis of the nature of the celebration. There is real feeling and the sharing of stories at a year's passing and Robert Burns' classic Auld Lang Syne symbolizes this, celebrating old acquaintance, friendship, and kindness - things worthy of taking forward into the new year. Auld Lang Syne which means 'old long ago' was discovered, not written, by Robert Burns in 1788. "Light be the turf on the breast of the heaven-inspired Poet who composed this glorious Fragment" he wrote to a friend on December 7, 1788. In another note, he described it as "the old song of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript, until I took it down from an old man's singing." One of the best known songs in English-speaking countries, it is sometimes referred to jokingly as the song that nobody knows, since many people can recall the melody easily but know only a fraction of the words. As well as being sung at Hogmanay, St Andrew's Night and Burns Night on January 25th, it can be sung at any gathering. It has also been adapted for local occasions in other parts of the world. In Taiwan it is used as both a graduation song and a funeral song symbolizing an end or a goodbye. In Japan, many stores play it to usher customers out at the end of a business day. The lyrics of Korea's national anthem used to be sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne and The University of Virginia's The Good Old Song also carries the same tune.
On the modern Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is celebrated on January 1, as it was also in ancient Rome (although other dates were also used in Rome). In all countries using the Gregorian calendar, except for Israel, it is a public holiday, often celebrated with fireworks at the stroke of midnight as the new year starts. January first on the Julian calendar corresponds to January 14 on the Gregorian calendar, and it is on that date that followers of some of the Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate the New Year.
In Brazil, celebrations are held around the nation. Most famous is the celebration in Rio de Janeiro which occurs at Copacabana beach, drawing millions of people.
In Australia, celebrations are held around the nation as well, especially in Sydney, where one of the world's largest fireworks displays also draws a million people to the harbor. Australia is one of the first countries in the world to celebrate the new year.
In New York City, the world famous 1,070-pound, 6-foot-diameter Waterford crystal ball located high above Times Square is lowered starting at 11:59:00 p.m., or the last minute of the year, and reaches the bottom of its tower at the stroke of midnight. It is sometimes referred to as "the big apple" like the city itself; the custom derives from the time signal that used to be given at noon in harbors. Other ball drops occur in Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro and Sydney Harbor.
In The Netherlands, Denmark and other European countries, the New Year is greeted with massive private fireworks. This day is also the occasion to make bonfires of discarded Christmas trees in some countries.
In Russia, the New Year is greeted by fireworks and drinking champagne. The New Year is considered a family celebration, with lavish dinner tables and gifts. The president of Russia normally counts down the final seconds of the old year. A giant clock tower chimes in the new year, and it is customary to make a wish with each chime.
In South Korea, the most popular way of celebrating New Year's Day is to travel to Jung dong jin, the place on the peninsula where the sun can first be seen each day.
There is a Junkanoo parade in Nassau, Bahamas, a street parade with music, which occurs in many towns across the Bahamas every Boxing Day, December 26, and New Year's Day. The largest Junkanoo parade happens in Nassau, the capital. Junkanoo groups revel or rush from midnight until shortly after dawn, to the music of cowbells, in costumes made from cardboard covered in tiny shreds of colorful crepe paper, competing for cash prizes. Modern Bahamian Junkanoo is a parade: a showcase for Bahamian goombay music and new Junkanoo costumes.
In Spain, New Year's Eve is celebrated on December 31st. Many families eat pork for dinner since the pig is considered a good luck symbol for the coming year. Just before midnight, twelve grapes are given to each person present. Everyone then attempts to eat one grape for each stroke of the clock as it chimes midnight. According Spanish folk belief, each of the twelve grapes will sweeten the corresponding month of the new year.
Some mayors in North America hold New Year levees, receptions where refreshments are served to the public on New Year's Day. There's a Peach Drop in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The Peach Drop is the name for the downtown Atlanta New Year's Eve celebration. It is so called because a giant replica of a peach is dropped in the style of a time ball, in a similar style to the ball drop in Times Square. It is held each year on December 31 at Underground Atlanta, a shopping and entertainment area in downtown Atlanta. The event draws tens of thousands of viewers each year, making the Peach Drop the largest such celebration in the Southeastern United States, and just behind the Times Square Ball and very close to the 40,000 that the 97 Rock Ball Drop of Buffalo, New York draws each year.
In Davos, Switzerland, the final match of the Spengler Cup Ice Hockey Tournament is usually held on New Year's Eve by tradition.
In the Philippines, people light fireworks, loud firecrackers, booming sound system, bamboo canons as well as make a lot of noise to ward off evil spirits. Coins are also jumbled in tin cans to make noise with the belief that this will bring more money to the revelers. Singapore also does a fireworks display to bring in the New Year.
One country that uses the Gregorian calendar for business but does not formally celebrate a Dec 31/Jan 1 New Year's holiday is Israel; this is mainly due to the fact that Jews celebrate their own New Year at a separate time. However, many secular Israelis do partake in some sort of informal celebration as well, especially if they have European or North American origins.
New Year's Eve in Ecuador is full of tradition, politics, and history. People of all ages dress up in costumes, the most popular being men dressed as the widows of the "old years". Instead of candy, they ask for money, offering a dance in return. At midnight, firecrackers pop across the country as años viejos, sawdust effigies, and burn on almost every street. One of the most important Ecuadorian traditions for ringing in the New Year is making años viejos, effigies representing local and international politicians, famous celebrities, or even cartoon characters. The effigies are made from old clothes sewn together and stuffed with firecrackers and sawdust (newspaper or any other flammable material can also be used). The heads of the effigies are covered with paper mache masks, shaped into caricatures of politicians or other people who have been in the news, generally for scandals. At midnight it will be beaten and burned for all of the trouble it has caused in the year.
Italian folklore claims that the first person you encounter after midnight on New Year's Eve determines your luck for the coming year. The luckiest person to encounter is a young, healthy man. Meeting a priest means you will attend a funeral l(maybe your own!), and meeting a child means you might die young. Also, if the person you encounter is a woman, you will have bad luck in the coming year.
Ireland too has certain folk customs connected to the New Year. Many people employed folk charms to ward off hunger in the coming year. Some recommended eating a big meal on New Year's Eve to set a pattern of consumption for the new year. Others suggested knocking a oaf of bread or cake against a house or barn door and reciting a verse welcoming happiness and rejecting hunger. First-footing, another old New Year's custom, was practiced in Scotland, Ireland and England. Good luck is believed to be brought to the house by the First-Foot. But a female First-Foot is regarded with dread. Greece also has its own folklore tradition of first-footing.
In Germany, New Year's Eve is known as Sylvester Abend or Sylvester's Eve for St. Sylvester. Germans celebrate New Year's Eve with parties, fortune-telling and practical jokes. Traditional party foods include carp, herring salad, hot wine punch and champagne. Many superstitions abound. Another variation on first-footing advises that the sight of a young, dark-haired man at the start of the new year brings good luck.
New Year celebrations continue to have political and religious implications even in modern times. In 2005, in Anatolia, Turkey, thousands of Assyrians from across the region converged to celebrate their New Year in Turkey openly for the first time. Like many other expressions of minority ethnic identity, the Assyrian New Year, or Akito, had been seen by Turkey as a threat. But the Turkish government, with an eye toward helping its case for joining the European Union, officially allowed the celebration by the Assyrians, members of a Christian ethnic group that traces its roots to ancient Mesopotamia.
At Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, officers of the U.S. Space Command and their Russian counterparts gathered in the waning hours of 1999, the day before New Year's Eve, to keep the world from ending: together they monitored the early-warning system so that no Y2K-confused computer would mistakenly signal an ICBM launch, precipitate an all-too-real response and make it a really short millennium. All were relieved when the year 2000 rolled in without a glitch. Just another way of celebrating a new year!
Like the Chinese New Year, the Persian New Year is not celebrated according to Western traditions. However, the United States being a land of diversity, the Persian New Year has been celebrated here in March with parades and dancers much like the Chinese New Year. Every culture and heritage welcomes the New Year in its own way and in its own time.
All cultures share a sense of both joy and sadness during the New Year holiday celebrations. How will you celebrate the holiday? Will you share your celebration with those you love or care about? What resolutions will you make? Will you keep them?
Wishing everyone a prosperous and healthy new year!