New Year Around the World, which are the traditions and rituals of fate

Ancient and modern traditions to celebrate the New Year's Eve in the world are numerous.

If you are in a foreign country on December 31st, adapt to local customs and fortune-bye rituals.

Magic Numbers and Lucky Colors

According to superstitions in many parts of the world, the number 12 is fate. In Spain and many Central American countries, such as Venezuela and Costa Rica, 12 grapes are placed on the table, one each month of the year - a tradition of eating one grain every second preceding midnight.

In Caracas, cathedral bells fall 12 times at midnight in the New Year. In the Philippines, it brings prosperity to table 12 round fruits representing coins as a symbol of prosperity. In Japan, at midnight, Buddhist temples ring to bells 108 times to remove the 108 elements of bonds, which cause people to behave badly.

In Italy and many European countries, they wear red - colored underwear on St. Silvestra's night, such as the fate ritual. But it is not all that way: In many countries in Central America, fatal colors are yellow. If you're going to celebrate in Mexico, or Santiago, the capital of Chile, you're going to see lots of yellow decorations and balloons.

In Brazil, the lucky color is what encompasses them all. At Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, more than two million people arrive each year dressed in white. If you are there to wait for the New Year, you can leap through the waves by expressing seven wishes, eat seven grapes, or seven bean beans, as a desire for prosperity, as tradition dictates.

Fatal rituals to leave the old year behind

There are a lot of interesting rituals with which people of all the world leave metaphorically behind in the old year. In many parts of Italy, for example, it is customary to throw out the window objects you want to get rid of, even though this is prohibited by law, as passersby may be killed.

In Ireland, they knock on the walls of houses with bread for prosperity, and in Denmark they throw old dishes and glasses at their door or that of relatives and friends to drive away bad spirits. Always in Denmark, as soon as midnight arrives, it's a tradition to jump off the chair. This superstitiously represents the removal of the old year to enter the new year.

Rituals are very different in the world. In Algeria, for example, children write their parents letters with good intentions and a desire for the New Year. In Russia, Ded Moroz (Slav Santa version) brings gifts along with his daughter. In Bangladesh, the most romantic day of the year is not February 14 but December 31; many couples marry for a new year, with celebrations beginning in the year and end in the new year.

In Greece, for good luck, they hang an onion on the outside door. In the Czech Republic, you have to wait for an apple in the middle; if a cross appears, the new year will have some difficulties, if a star appears, the year will be a good one. In many cultures in various parts of the world - from Greece to Mexico to the Philippines - the person who finds the money hidden in the bread will have great luck.

New Year's challenges, a dive where the water's gone...

A dive in the midst of cold waters is one of the world's most popular New Year traditions.

In the Netherlands there is a tradition that was born in 1965 in Scheveningen and has spread to 200 other towns in the Netherlands, where thousands of people on January 1st do a dive in Ocean. After diving in cold water, they receive a warm chocolate or pea soup on the beach.

In Barcelona, Primer Bany de lUAny is a recent ritual. Ironed in 1996, it has since been held on the beach in Sant Sebastá every year. At this time of year, the average temperature is 18 degrees Celsius, and the water temperature is about 12-14 degrees.

Of course, the climate does not frighten those who share in the challenge. In the Ystad, Sweden, people dive into the head of cowboy hats; in Szigliet, Hungary, they swim in the waters of Lake Balton; in Northern Ireland, in ♫ Scarborough beach '% in Yorkshire, Carnlough; France, on the famous beach of Dunkirk. /montor/