Twelve apes, seven waves, 108 tolls of a bell, and a glass bottle thrown off a balcony onto the streets below.
If this sounds like incomprehensible nonsense to you, then you likely haven’t experienced New Year’s Eve in Spain, Japan, Brazil, or the Republic of South Africa.
While we stand on crowded streets awaiting fireworks and spray water at each other through holes on the caps of water bottles, here’s what some people across oceans from us will be doing to usher in the New Year.
The twelve lucky grapes — Spain
If you find yourself in Puerta del Sol Square in Madrid on December 31, you’ll be surrounded by thousands of eager Spaniards and tourists waiting for a golden ball on the Real Casa de Correos clocktower to be lowered, marking the impending countdown to midnight. Four warning tolls of the bell. The revellers prepare themselves, grapes in hand. The clock strikes at midnight, and the tradition of las doce uvas de la suerte, or the “twelve lucky grapes” begins. The twelve grapes represent the twelve coming months of the new year and must be eaten at each chime of the clock after striking midnight. Eating a grape in a second is harder than it sounds and doing so successfully is believed to bring one good fortune for the new year.
The midnight bells – Japan
While bells around the world chime 12 times announcing midnight, on New Year’s night the bells at temples and shrines across Japan toll 108 times. Each reverberating toll signifies leaving behind one of the 108 worldly desires or temptations outlined in Buddhist cosmology. It is said that the bells are a wish for all those who have the privilege of hearing their peal to begin the new year without the vices that plagued them in the past year. The ritual, called joya no kane, is usually performed by Buddhist monks but in recent times smaller temples have allowed ordinary visitors to the temples to ring the bells. More and more temple-goers gather by the early hours of the morning to make wishes for the new year.
Wave-jumping – Brazil
A tradition born of the African diaspora; the beaches of Brazil are packed with people hoping to jump seven waves at midnight on New Year’s every year. The ritual is an ode to the ocean Goddess Yemanjá of the Candomblé religion but has been embraced as an annual tradition by Brazilians of all faiths. Millions of Brazilians flock to the beaches on December 31, carrying the hope that the benevolent Yemanjá might grant them their wishes for the new year. The sea spotted with offerings of flowers and gifts for the Goddess, those that believe wade into the water just after midnight. Jumping over seven waves this night is believed to ensure that the new year will bring good fortune, and the fulfilment of the seven wishes made before each leap.
Throwing out the old – South Africa
Disposing of the old and embracing the new is an intrinsic part of New Year’s celebrations, but some neighbourhoods in the Republic of South Africa take this a few steps further, launching old furniture from their windows to make room for new. A relatively new tradition, it is linked to the end of apartheid in the 1990s. Symbolising new beginnings, this somewhat controversial tradition has deep significance for many locals. While you’re unlikely to see a whole four-seater sofa fall from an apartment on the fifth floor, and this would of course be discouraged for safety reasons, you may find chairs, ornaments and shattered glass bottles scattered throughout the streets by the morning of the New Year.
New Year’s to go
For those hoping to experience New Year’s Eve traditions across the globe, is one celebration a year truly enough? Some ambitious folk seem to think not.
With the Pacific having the pleasure of being home to both the first and last countries to step into a new year, it is possible to travel in time to experience twice the celebrations.
Among the shortest distances with the greatest time difference, one could travel from Samoa to American Samoa and gain a whole extra day!
There are, of course, several other options within and beyond the Pacific for those hoping to time travel and make the most of New Year’s Eve.
Whether you choose to spend the first moments of 2024 gobbling grapes, jumping waves, or watching the night sky light up in celebration, we wish you a peaceful and joyous 2024.
