12 New Year’s Traditions from Around the World

Hopeful travelers can learn a lot from this tradition that occurs in many Latin American countries, most notably Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico. Many believe that taking an empty suitcase for a walk around the block (or even leaving one by the door) will bring travel in the coming year. You might feel a little odd when your neighbors see you taking your suitcase for a walk, but they’ll be totally jealous when you’re on your way to the airport.

 

Throwing Stuff Out the Window

Ringing a Bell 108 Times

In Buddhism, it’s believed that there are a total of 108 earthly desires that cause suffering. At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the Japanese will celebrate by tolling temple bells 108 times—one for each desire. This ritual is called Joya-no-Kane, it’s all about purification and encouraging a fresh start for the new year.

 

Dropping Ice Cream on the Floor

If your ice cream falls to the floor in Switzerland, there’s no need to be upset. In fact, the Swiss purposefully drop their ice cream on the floor on New Year’s Eve to bring on a year of abundance and (hopefully) more ice cream.

Baking a Coin into the Bread

In Greece, New Year’s Eve is celebrated by baking a traditional bread known as Vasilopita that comes with a special surprise: a “sweet coin” baked into the bread (or cake in some cultures). It’s a coin wrapped in tin foil and dropped randomly into the bread; whoever gets the lucky piece will have good luck for the next year. The tradition honors St. Basil, who came up with the idea to bake coins into bread when he knew the poor people of his church would be too proud to accept charity.

Eating Seven Times

In the Philippines, the new year is celebrated with roundness. Part of the fun of the day is coming up with 12 different round fruits—one for each month of the year. For Filipinos, roundness is a symbol of health and also signifies prosperity and wealth (because coins are also round). Women will often wear polka-dot dresses to add even more roundness to the big day.

Predicting the Future

On New Year’s Eve in Finland, people have a tradition of fortunetelling. They’ll melt tin horseshoes in a pan and then pour the liquid metal into a bucket of cold water. The tin solidifies instantly when it hits the water, resulting in random shapes. The shapes are then interpreted to predict their future for the coming year.

Hitting the Walls with Bread

In Ireland, bad luck must be driven out of the house before midnight, and the quickest way to get bad spirits out of the house is apparently with a loaf of Christmas bread. The Irish will smack the walls and bang on the doors with bread to chase out the bad and welcome in the good spirits.

What to Wear on New Year’s Eve

More from SmarterTravel:

• 10 Surprising Ways to Offend People in Other Countries
• The 12 Best Places to Go in 2020
• 20 Adventure Trips of a Lifetime to Take in 2020

Jamie Ditaranto will be celebrating New Year’s in Brazil this year but feels weird about telling the Internet what color her underwear will be. Follow her on Twitter @jamieditaranto.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2015. It has been updated to reflect the most current information.