From Smashing Plates to Cemetery Sleepovers: Astonishing New Year’s Traditions from Around the World

For many, it’s fireworks, a few drinks and friends, with the obligatory midnight hugs and high-fives, but what about walking around your town with an empty suitcase, eating twelve meals, or throwing an old microwave out the window?

Whether it’s food, fire, or fun, many countries across the globe see in the New Year in their own special way. Here’s a glimpse into some of the less well-known New Years’ Eve traditions from all across the world.

The practice of marking the beginning of a new year is thousands of years old. Evidence suggests that as far back as around 4,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, people already recognised a new year, but their celebrations likely centred around agricultural cycles and religious ceremonies rather than a fixed calendar date as we do today.

It wasn’t until Julius Caesar instituted the Julian calendar in 45 BC that 1st January became the official start of the year in the Roman Empire. Gradually, as the Julian (and later Gregorian) calendar gained global acceptance, January 1st solidified its place as the beginning of the year.

With increasing emphasis on standardised calendars and clocks, European and, later, global communities began to observe the turn of the year at precisely midnight. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, villages, towns and cities around the world were gathering for midnight festivities on 31st December. Electric lights, mass media, and global time zones made it even easier to mark the event simultaneously in a more modern, communal fashion.

But what do people do around the world to celebrate? Let’s find out.

Some Danes save old plates and dishes throughout the year to throw them at the front doors of friends and family on New Year’s Eve. The bigger the pile of cracked crockery, the more fortune is said to be bestowed on the house.

For many Spaniards, their New Year’s Eve tradition will see them eat one grape at each of the twelve strokes of midnight. Each grape symbolises a month of good fortune for the coming year and it’s believed this tradition started with a surplus grape harvest in Alicante in 1909.

In the Hillbrow suburb of Johannesburg, it’s been reported that some residents literally subscribe to the old adage of ‘out with the old and in with the new’ by throwing old or unwanted appliances and furniture out the window!

Colombians have a number of fascinating New Years’ Eve traditions, including holding cash to ensure financial stability, and wearing yellow underwear for prosperity. Yet one of the most intriguing sees some Colombians walking around the block with an empty suitcase. It’s said to symbolise a desire for travel and adventure in the year ahead.

In Estonian culture, the numbers seven, nine, and twelve are considered lucky, and one charming New Year’s tradition suggests that eating seven, nine, or twelve meals on New Year’s Day will bring you an abundance of food for the entire year! Many Estonians also set aside some of their food for the spirits of ancestors who may visit during the New Year celebrations.

In the central Chilean city of Talca, some families reportedly spend the night in cemeteries beside the graves of their loved ones as part of their New Year’s Eve celebrations. This tradition is believed to have started as recently as 1995 when a local family climbed into the cemetery to spend New Year’s Eve by the grave of their recently deceased father. The tradition grew, and today, some families visit the graves, decorate them, and bring food and drink. Many choose to stay overnight as a way to honour and include their loved ones in the celebrations.

In one of the more surprising New Years’ Eve traditions, it’s believed that around half the population of Germany – around 42 million people – watch an obscure British comedy sketch filmed in 1963 called Dinner for One. The sketch features a butler named James (Freddie Frinton) who serves a 90-year-old woman named Miss Sophie (May Warden), who has invited her deceased friends to dinner. Comedic chaos ensues. This sketch is so ingrained in German culture that it’s often compared to the British tradition of the King’s Speech on Christmas Day. Some hardcore fans even cook the four-course meal depicted in the eighteen-minute show.

Filipinos have a tradition of surrounding themselves with round items and eating round fruits during New Year’s celebrations to attract wealth and prosperity. Typically, families prepare twelve different round fruits, such as apples, oranges, and grapes, to display during their New Year’s Eve feast, known as Media Noche. The round theme also extends to clothing, with people wearing polka dots for good luck.

As these customs reveal, there’s no single way to usher in a new year. In celebrating fresh beginnings, these unique traditions bring a sense of joy and New Year’s fun to millions around the globe.