Key Takeaways
- People have celebrated the New Year on various dates almost since civilization’s inception.
- New Year myths and traditions vary from food to plate smashing and banging walls with bread.
- Some New Year rituals bring good luck, others avoid bad luck, and most pertain to a brighter future.
For many, New Year’s Eve is a final blowout before making resolutions for a new lifestyle on New Year’s Day. Loved ones and family members get together to see out the old and bring in the new.
People popping champagne and shouting “Happy New Year” at the stroke of midnight is well-established modern imagery. Yet New Year myths and traditions date back to the birth of civilization and come in many shapes and forms.
So here’s how to start the New Year on the right foot, with good luck accompanying you and no evil spirits shadowing you.
A Brief History of New Year Myths and Traditions
Most countries mark the end of the year on December 31 of the Gregorian calendar. However, dates vary, and the first New Year festival recorded dates back to around 2,000 BCE in Babylonia.
Akitu took place around mid-September, with the first new moon after the autumn equinox around late September. Parades, singing, and the Babylon King being beaten as an offering to the Marduk God provided the entertainment.
The Greeks tied their New Year celebrations to sun and moon calendars. Rebirth and fertility imbued the rituals, with goddesses like Demeter (agriculture) and her daughter, Persephone (seasonal change), taking center stage.
The Roman New Year was a more spring-like March 25 until Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 46 BCE. From then on, January 1 marked the New Year across the Roman empire.
Medieval Christian Europe switched back to the March 25 New Year tradition. Much of the region reverted to January 1 as New Year’s Day when the Roman Catholic Church adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582, with countries like Scotland, Germany, Denmark, England, and Russia following suit over the centuries.
January 1: Not the Only New Year Tradition
There are many other New Year dates worldwide to read up on, especially in cultures that use lunar calendars rather than the Gregorian calendar:
- The 15-day-long Chinese New Year starts with the first new moon between January 21 and February 20.
- Thailand’s traditional New Year, Songkran, is celebrated mid-April after the rice harvest. It involves lots of symbolic cleansing with water, feasting, games, and music.
- Jewish Rosh Hashanah occurs during September and October, with prayers, festive meals, and spiritual contemplation to the fore.
- Japan has a three-day New Year holiday called Shōgatsu from January 1 to 3.
- The Islamic New Year celebrates Mohammed’s migration from Mecca to Medina and moves forward 11 days annually. In 2025, it falls on June 27.
Native American cultures have varying New Year dates. The Hopi celebrate for nine days starting on the winter solstice, December 22. The Umatilla mark the New Year with the onset of spring as days lengthen. There are many, many more.
What Are Some Common American New Year Traditions?
The United States has some well-established celebrations and New Year’s superstitions.
Many Americans celebrate New Year’s Eve with family and friends. There is food, drink, music, and often dancing and merriment. When the clock strikes midnight, fireworks, noisemakers, a kiss, and perhaps a glass of something celebratory usually keep the party going. Singing Auld Lang Syne by Scottish poet Robert Burns immediately after midnight is also an established tradition.
Many people watch New York City’s famous ball drop on television as part of the dramatic countdown to the end of the year. New Year’s Day is also often a day for making New Year’s resolutions, writing down hopes and dreams for the year, or starting afresh with a new calendar.
Similarly, there are many New Year’s superstitions. Some people consider it bad luck to start the new year with bare cupboards or an empty wallet, lest the new year continues in that vein. Others open windows and doors at midnight to welcome the cleansing New Year while also making a lot of noise to ward off evil spirits. Some refuse to do any laundry or cleaning on New Year’s Day to stop any good luck from washing away.
You might be served collard greens and black-eyed peas with cornbread on January 1 to bring wealth. People believe this Southern dish, sometimes called Hoppin’ John, will bring good luck, money, and prosperity for the rest of the year.
Why Is It Considered Lucky to Kiss Someone at Midnight on New Year’s Eve?
A smooch when the clock strikes midnight is steeped in English and German folklore. People would not just kiss the first person they encountered, which can happen in modern times.
According to lore, that year’s destiny was dictated by the first person someone kissed after midnight. People became quite picky about their first kiss, ensuring their first kiss of the year was with someone they loved or knew.
How Did the Tradition of New Year’s Fireworks and Noisemaking Start?
China was the birthplace of fireworks around 200 BCE, where the New Year’s noisemaking tradition began.
Chinese people marking the New Year would set off fireworks to celebrate. Red fireworks invited good fortune, while the noise warded off evil spirits, particularly a demon called Nian.
Nowadays, people use noisemakers to replicate the bang of fireworks, keeping this superstition alive, even if they are unaware of its origins.
What Are the Most Popular New Year Traditions Around the World?
New Year traditions vary significantly worldwide, albeit often sharing in the general vibe of bonhomie, good luck, fortune, and fellowship with fellow humans.
Latin America
In Spain, Mexico, and other Latin American countries, people eat a grape for every strike of the clock at midnight, then follow it up with a swig of bubbly cava. It’s trickier than it sounds. Peel the grape skin to give yourself a better chance of eating all 12, and always supervise children.
Scotland
In Scotland, New Year is called Hogmanay, a party that lasts from December 31 to January 2. After the clock strikes midnight, people start to “first-foot.”
First footing involves visiting neighbors bearing a gift, often shortbread, whisky, a coin, or a lump of coal. The first person into a home brings food, warmth, good cheer, and prosperity for the coming year with their presents.
Denmark
The Danes also try to gift luck to their neighbors. However, they do this in Denmark by smashing plates and glasses at someone’s front door. This smashing tradition may also have been preceded by Danish people jumping off chairs to welcome the New Year at midnight.
Greece & Turkey
In Greece and Turkey, it’s pomegranate people smash on your doorstep.
Colombia
Things are a little more abstract in Colombia. Folks run around their homes with empty suitcases, hoping to attract travel adventures the following year.
China
People in some parts of China paint their doors red for good fortune.
Brazil
Brazilians receive a wish for each of the seven waves they should jump at the beach.
What Are Some Myths About New Year Food?
You are what you eat, and it’s no different on New Year’s Eve. In Italy, people eat lentils for the same good fortune as Americans eating black-eyed peas in a Hoppin’ John.
Some folks avoid lobster on December 31. Why? This crustacean’s preference for swimming “backward” will apparently bring bad luck and a year of setbacks to those who partake.
Should you devour a lobster by mistake, hotfoot it to Germany and Sweden and indulge in herring to attract good luck. Don’t eat chicken—those winged beasts can fly, albeit poorly, and eating this type of poultry will see your year’s luck fly away, too.
Take care when dining out in Estonia. Eating 12 meals on New Year’s Eve will bring 12 months of abundance, so be prepared to down a dozen different dishes. It’s a little easier in the Philippines, where people eat 12 fruits to the same effect.
The Greeks view onions as symbols of prosperity. That’s why people hang bunches of them on their doors at New Year’s to bring good luck. Some parents wake up their kids on New Year’s Day by gently knocking their heads with the hanging onions from outside.
What Are Some Superstitions Related to New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day?
Of course, many New Year myths and traditions are steeped in superstition.
The Irish bang their Christmas bread on their homes’ walls to chase away evil spirits and begin the new year well.
In Ecuador, people make sawdust-filled effigies to symbolize the old year’s negativity, including of politicians or celebrities. These are burned at midnight, with more good luck if you jump the flames 12 times.
Japanese Buddhists ring their temple bells 107 times before midnight on New Year and once afterward. These 108 tolls represent humanity’s 108 sins. The ringing is followed by eating a dish called Toshikoshi Soba, whose long noodles symbolize longevity.
One blessed superstition is that being born on New Year’s Day brings luck. Arrive at midnight to supersize that good fortune.
What Is the Meaning Behind Wearing Specific Colors During New Year Celebrations?
Those Brazilian wave jumpers might be wearing white on New Year’s Eve. The color brings good luck and peace and looks pretty good in photos.
The New Year in the Philippines results in an explosion of polka dots, again to bring positivity and good luck.
Underwear is another crucial piece of clothing for those wanting to start the New Year well. In Latin America, red underwear represents love, white symbolizes peace, and yellow symbolizes luck.
Italy also takes its red underwear seriously, with the red undergarment representing passion, love, success, and luck.
Make the Most of New Year Myths and Traditions
The world is beautifully varied, and myriad New Year myths and traditions reflect that diversity. Fortunately, the digital age allows people almost anywhere to learn about and understand the many different cultures and traditions that abound.
Even better, New Year is the perfect time to celebrate with family and friends or try out a new tradition. It’s a fun way to break down perceived barriers between people and start the New Year positively and open-heartedly.
By glimpsing different people’s ways of seeing the world, hope remains that we can spot the universal theme of goodness and sharing that underpins almost all New Year traditions.
Brought to you by amigoenergy
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