Happy New Year Everyone!

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.

Edith Lovejoy Pierce

A few weeks ago, I wrote about some Christmas Traditions from around the world, I thought about it again this week as I realised, I wasn’t going to get to see my sister in Edinburgh for Hogmanay! A tradition I’ll miss is something called First Footing. On Hogmanay, (The 31st of December), the Scottish observe many traditions, but easily one of their most famous is first footing. According to Scottish beliefs, the first person who crosses through the threshold of your house after midnight on New Year's Day should be a dark-haired male if you wish to have good luck in the coming year. Traditionally, these men come bearing gifts of coal, salt, shortbread, and whiskey, all of which further contribute to the idea of having good fortune.

New Years Traditions are not exclusive to the Scots, here’s a few more you may not have heard of.

Spain: Eating Grapes for Good Luck

In Spain, locals will eat exactly twelve grapes at the stroke of midnight to honour a tradition that started in the late 19th century. Back in the 1800s, vine growers in the Alicante area came up with this tradition as a means of selling more grapes toward the end of the year, but the sweet celebration quickly caught on. Today, Spaniards enjoy eating one grape for each of the first 12 bell strikes after midnight in the hope that this will bring about a year of good fortune and prosperity.

Russia: Planting Underwater Trees

For the past 25 years or so, it has been a Russian holiday tradition for two divers, aptly named Father Frost and the Ice Maiden, to venture into a frozen Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake, and take a New Year Tree – typically a decorated spruce – more than 100 feet below the surface. Though the temperature is normally well below freezing in Russia on New Year's Eve, people travel from all over the world to partake in this crazy frozen festival.

Brazil: Throwing White Flowers into the Ocean

If you happen to be in Brazil for New Year's Eve, don't be surprised to find the oceans littered with white flowers and candles. In the South American country, it is commonplace for citizens to take to the shores on New Year's Eve in order to make offerings to Yemoja, a major water deity who is said to control the seas, to elicit her blessings for the year to come.

Italy: Wearing Red Underwear

Italians have a tradition of wearing red underwear to ring in the new year. In Italian culture, the colour red is associated with fertility, and so people wear it under their clothes in the hopes that it will help them conceive in the coming year.

Greece: Hanging Onions

No, this New Year's Eve tradition has nothing to do with vampires. Rather, the Greeks believe that onions are a symbol of rebirth, and so they hang the pungent vegetable on their doors in order to promote growth throughout the new year. Greek culture has long associated this food with the idea of development, seeing as all the odorous onion ever seemingly wants is to plant its roots and keep growing.

Japan: Slurping Some Soba Noodles

In Japanese culture, it is customary to welcome the New Year with a bowl of soba noodles in a ritual known as toshikoshi soba, or year-crossing noodles. Though nobody is entirely sure where toshikoshi soba first came from, it is believed that the soba's thin shape and long length is meant to signify a long and healthy life. Many folks also believe that because the buckwheat plant used to make soba noodles is so resilient, people eat the pasta on New Year's Eve to signify their strength.

Denmark: Smashing Plates

In Denmark, people take pride in the number of broken dishes outside of their door by the end of New Year's Eve. It's a Danish tradition to throw China at your friends’ and neighbours’ front doors on New Year's Eve – some say it's a means of leaving any aggression and ill-will behind before the New Year begins – and it is said that the bigger your pile of broken dishes, the more luck you will have in the upcoming year.

Greece: Pummelling Pomegranates

Another one from the Aegean! In ancient Greek mythology, the pomegranate symbolizes fertility, life, and abundance, and so the fruit has come to be associated with good fortune in modern Greece. Just after midnight on New Year's Eve, it is customary for Greeks to smash a pomegranate against the door of their house—and it is said that the number of pomegranate seeds that end up scattered is directly correlated with the amount of good luck to come.

Japan: Ringing Bells

One-hundred-and-eight. That's how many times Buddhist temples in Japan ring their bells on New Year's Eve – 107 times on New Year's Eve, and once when the clock strikes midnight. This tradition, known as joyanokane, is meant to both dispel the 108 evil desires in each and every person and cleanse the previous year of past sins.

Ireland: Sleeping on Mistletoe

And finally, to my beloved Ireland! In Ireland, it's customary for single Girls to sleep with a sprig mistletoe under their pillow on New Year's Eve. Supposedly, sleeping with the plant helps women to find their future husbands – in their dreams, at least!

Thank you for all the lovely comments I’ve had about my blog this year, you’ve truly made me feel very blessed and very special – Happy New Year everyone and take the words of Edith Lovejoy Pierce with you 😊

What’s on this week?