Celebrating the New Year is pretty much as universal as a holiday can get, with the toasting of champagne and partaking of festive delicacies with your nearest and dearest all commonly accepted celebratory practices. A few countries, however, have rather more unusual end-of-year traditions. Be it swinging flaming fireballs, offering flowers to the sea or simply ringing a massive bell to wash away your sins, here are some interesting New Year rituals practiced around the world.
Hogmanay Festival, Scotland
Hogmanay is the Scottish word for the last day of the year. The celebration of the Hogmanay Festival is an age-old tradition that dates back to pre-Christian beliefs. Although customs vary across the country, the most exciting highlight during the eve of the New Year is watching trained professionals swing fire balls over their heads and tossing them into the sea — a ritual most commonly practiced in the town of Stonehaven that is believed to ward off evil spirits at the dawn of the new year.
White Flower Offerings, Brazil
Though the beaches of Rio de Janeiro are world-famous for picturesque beachfront hotels and dusk-til-dawn parties, perhaps a lesser-known attraction occurs on New Year’s Eve when, decked in all white, locals send out white flowers and lit candles into the ocean as offerings to the Ocean Goddess, Imanja in hopes that their New Year’s wishes are granted. If, however, their offerings return to shore, it is believed that the Goddess has rejected the wish.
108 Bell Chimes, Japan
Joya-no-Kane is a traditional New Year’s Eve ceremony performed at temples across Japan. The custom involves a large symbolic bell which priests and visitors of the temples ring 107 times on the eve of the new year and once more at the strike of midnight, celebrating the passing of an old year while ushering in a new one. According to Buddhist teachings, the ceremony is said to cleanse a person off his or her worldly desires, represented by the number 108.
Plate-smashing, Denmark
Although in other parts of the world, having someone smash plates against your front door might be taken as malice, in Denmark, however, locals show their love for their friends by throwing their broken and unused china at their door step. An old tradition that lives on today, the ritual is rooted in the belief that the broken glass will deliver good luck throughout the new year. So, the person with the most broken glass at their door could be a good indication that he or she is the most popular in the neighbourhood.
Burning Scarecrows, Ecuador
If you are curious to know which country’s custom is the most lit— literally —look no further than the celebration of Los años viejos in Ecuador. Translated to “the old year”, locals craft large puppets and scarecrows in close resemblance to the people they dislike or have died in the past, then burn these symbolic objects on New Year’s Eve. What better way to burn bridges with the people who have wronged you by burning them, metaphorically.