How does your culture celebrate the New Year?

 With our travels over the years, Ralph and I have been fortunate to meet and become friends with individuals and groups from many countries and cultures. The ways of celebrating events varies greatly from family to family, region to region, culture to culture, and country to country. We are going to list the way some of our friends celebrate the New Year:

 Italy

Eat 12 spoonful's of lentils, one with each chime of the clock at midnight.

• Rosh Hashanah

  The Jewish New Year, which is celebrated on the first and second days of the Hebrew lunar month of Tishrei. It's a time for reflection, atonement, and forgiveness. 

Sinhalese New Year

Marks the end of the harvest season and begins at a time determined by astrological calculations.

Islamic New Year

Starts on the first day of Muharram, the first month of the lunar Hijri calendar.

China

Celebrate Lunar New Year, which marks the beginning of spring and a new year on the lunisolar calendar.

Denmark

Smash old plates and glasses against friends and family's doors to banish bad spirits.

Colombia

Walk around the block with an empty suitcase to wish for a year of travel and adventure.

Spain

Eat 12 grapes, one for each chime of the clock at midnight, for good luck and happiness in the coming year.

Finland

In Finland, people predict the coming year by casting molten tin into a container of water, then interpreting the shape the metal takes after hardening. A heart or ring means a wedding, while a ship predicts travel and a pig declares there will be plenty of food.

Panama

To drive off evil spirits for a fresh New Year’s start, it is tradition to burn effigies (muñecos) of well-known people such as television characters and political figures in Panama. The effigies are meant to represent the old year.

Brazil

In Brazil, as well as other Central and South America countries like Ecuador, Bolivia, and Venezuela, it is thought to be lucky to wear special underwear on New Year’s Eve. The most popular colors are red, thought to bring love in the New Year, and yellow, thought to bring money.

Greece

An onion is traditionally hung on the front door of homes on New Year’s Even in Greece as a symbol of rebirth in the New Year. On New Year’s Day, parents wake their children by tapping them on the head with the onion.

And ya'll think Ralph and I are weird......