r/AskEurope • u/EvilPyro01 United States of America • 2d ago
Culture What kinds of traditions does your country have for new years?
What does your country do to celebrate new years?
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u/SaraHHHBK Castilla 2d ago
- Eat 12 grapes at midnight for good luck.
- Wear red underwear.
- Fireworks.
- Get drunk partying and getting home next morning with churros.
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u/badlydrawngalgo Portugal 2d ago
In Portugal -- 12 raisins -- The underwear colour is dictated by your wish for the year. Red is for love and passion. -- Fireworks -- Same but with Farturas not churros
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u/TheShinyBlade Netherlands 2d ago
OLIEBOLLEN
And the Top 2000, where people can vote for the best songs ever made, although Bohemian Rhapsody always is number 1
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u/the_pianist91 Norway 2d ago
Lightning up a small fortune worth of fireworks scaring the shit out of the wildlife we got left. And the King’s speech of course.
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u/LifeAcanthopterygii6 Hungary 2d ago
Thankfully fireworks was banned (from November to the end of February) a few years ago in my town due to the shitload amount of geese that stay here during that time. And it works fairly well.
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u/the_pianist91 Norway 2d ago
A ban would create uproar here and many wouldn’t care about it even if it was somewhat enforced
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u/LifeAcanthopterygii6 Hungary 2d ago
Honestly it still puzzles me how well it went here. Maybe there's still hope for humanity.
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u/Ricard2dk Denmark 2d ago
Same! But DK is flat as a pancake so less wildlife!
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u/pannenkoek0923 Denmark 2d ago
It's the pets getting scared instead
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u/Ricard2dk Denmark 2d ago
True. We have flashy happy pets here so it's one day of trauma. I could do without it but I'm old. Ha
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u/RobinGoodfellows Denmark 19h ago edited 19h ago
If, at the stroke of midnight, the city isn’t engulfed in smoke and doesn’t sound like it’s under an artillery barrage—complete with
a touch ofstreet anarchy—can you even call it New Year’s Eve2
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u/eterran / 2d ago
Don't know if this is done outside of Germany, but we do Bleigießen (lead pouring, although now it's done with tin). You heat up little bits of metal until liquid, then drop them into cold water. As they cool, you interpret the shape to see what the new year will bring.
You must watch "Dinner for One" (video) at least once during the evening.
We wish everyone "einen guten Rutsch" ("a good slide" or a good transition into the new year). We also call new year's even "Silvester."
A lot of decorations are covered with good luck symbols, like pigs, mushrooms (fly agaric, to be specific), chimney sweeps (or just their hats), one cent coins, upright horseshoes, ladybugs, and four-leaf clovers.
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u/Minnielle in 2d ago
And everyone eats Berliner. If you want to do a little prank you can get one filled with mustard instead of jam and see which of your friends is the unlucky one.
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u/Kujaichi 2d ago
And everyone eats Berliner.
Nah, that's regional.
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u/Minnielle in 2d ago
Really? I have been in various parts of Germany on new year's eve and there were always Berliner (sometimes called with different names of course as the Germans don't seem to agree on what to call them).
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u/Kujaichi 2d ago
I only ever had them on new year's eve in Berlin, where they weren't called Berliner of course, ironically. (And I was SO confused because I was expecting pancakes from what they were talking about...)
I know Berliner as a traditional Karneval food.
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u/Standard_Arugula6966 Czechia 2d ago
Lead pouring is/was a Christmas tradition here in Czechia. Although I have never met anyone who actually does it, it's still well known.
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u/EvilPyro01 United States of America 2d ago
I’ve seen dinner for one before. Quite an odd tradition
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u/GeronimoDK Denmark 2d ago
Same procedure as last year. It's also been transmitted on live TV in Denmark on New years eve for decades.
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u/port956 2d ago
Nothing really...
Just a big street party with highland country dancing from a live band, a marching pipe band, lone bagpiper on the ramparts leading up to midnight, then fireworks, singing Auld Lang Syne, then some first footing with a lump of coal for the fire. Never know what time I'll get home, but can't sleep long as there's the big New Years Day swim in the North Sea where porridge and hot toddies await the dookers.
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u/martinbaines Scotland & Spain 1d ago
A new mean of "Nothing really" of which I was not previously acquainted 🤣
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u/10ftdown Netherlands 2d ago
Besides lighting a bunch firework there will be a comedian who give an end of the year show looking back at the past year. Also there is a list of the best 2000 songs of all time (as voted by people) that gets played on a certain radio station between Christmas and New year's eve. When the countdown to the new year reaches one the #1 song will start playing, usually that's bohemian rhapsody. Also eating oliebollen.
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u/Sagaincolours Denmark 2d ago
Eat a dish that includes fish or other seafood.
Watch the Queen's, from this year the King's, New Year speech.
Get a little or a lot drunk.
Watch the very old sketch "The 90 years birthday."
Gather around the TV to watch the countdown to midnight on the clock at City Hall of Copenhagen.
Jump into the new year (literally).
Listen to "Welcome this year of our lord" and the National song that they play on TV after midnight.
Drink champagne and eat kransekage (a type of marzipan comfectionary).
Fire off a lot of fireworks.
Go to bed way too late and have a hangover on the 1st of January.
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u/GeronimoDK Denmark 2d ago
In English, the 90th birthday is more commonly known as "dinner for one".
I think eating fish is also a regional thing, I've never in my 41 years had cod or any other fish on NYE.
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u/Sagaincolours Denmark 2d ago
Cod was traditional to eat in NYE. I haven't had it either, but my parents used to serve some kind of fish/seafood as a nod to it, and I do the same. Usually sushi.
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u/thatgirlnamedak Austria 2d ago
We yell „Prosit Neujahr“ and walz to this song and the sound of the Pummerin, a bell in Stephansdom gets broadcast: https://youtu.be/G9W3W3qwTec?si=ijXXHemqAn2cEppi
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u/FakeNathanDrake Scotland 1d ago
Start drinking pretty early (after all, we get the 2nd of January off too to recover), watch some shit telly, ensure that your "first footer" (the first person to enter the house after midnight) is tall and dark haired (something to do with keeping vikings out) and ideally should bring food/whisky/coal/peat. I don't think first footing is just a Scottish thing, I'm fairly sure it's a thing in the north of England too.
The news will inevitably show footage from other countries (typically starting with New Zealand), if we stay up long enough to watch it then inevitably people will get wound up with the average American's seeming instability to pronounce "syne".
The next day is mostly about eating and recovering, steak pie being the go-to New Year's Day food.
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u/nekdo98 Slovenia 2d ago
For the New Year, Dedek Mraz (Grandfather Frost) brings gifts. Dedek Mraz is like Santa Claus who comes for the New Year.
At midnight we listen a song Silvesterski poljub(New Year's Eve kiss)
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u/smurfk Romania 2d ago
We get drunk, listen to manele, throw fireworks, and then do something stupid, like throw a pot of flowers on our neighbor's car, and then have a fight with them. I thought it was the usual tradition all around Eastern Europe.
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u/thatdani Romania 2d ago
Dunno if this is a common thing, but ever since I was little, my dad always gave me money "to have in my wallet so it won't be empty at the start of the new year".
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u/Eimeck 1d ago
Starting early on New Year‘s Day afternoon: Swearing at the idiots who bombed the mailbox. Again. Trying to remember those resolutions through the haze. Timidly rationalizing why those are not really to be taken seriously. Watching the soothingly senseless procession of Neujahrsspringen in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
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u/Itchy-Astronomer9500 Germany 1d ago
In Germany a big part is watching “Dinner For One” at LEAST once in the evening!
There are lots of small gifts and decorations around lucky symbols of pigs, four-leaf clovers, chimney sweeps, ladybirds, horseshoes etc etc etc, lots of people set off fireworks on the streets and don’t pick the litter up. It stays until it’s washed away by the rain.
A lot of people have parties varying in size and volume and you get loads of Berliner to eat (that might not be the case everywhere, don’t quote me on that).
Some people do lead pouring (“Bleigießen”) where you pour melted tin pieces (drops??) into wax and analyse and interpret the shapes you see in regards to what the next year will bring.
You also wish pretty much everyone you meet a good slide into the new year - guten Rutsch!
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u/polybotria1111 Spain 1d ago edited 1d ago
Nearly all TV channels broadcast the 12 campanadas (12 chimes), the traditional New Year’s Eve countdown. We eat 12 grapes, one for each chime. Most channels air the event live from the clock at Puerta del Sol in Madrid, although there are some regional broadcasts as well. Crowds gather in Puerta del Sol (the capacity is limited to 15,000 people) to eat the grapes as the clock strikes 12 times in ≈ the final 12 seconds of the year. At home, families gather to have dinner together and watch the live broadcast when the time comes, eating one grape with each chime to bring good luck for the coming year. The majority of Spaniards, therefore, don’t leave the home where they’re having dinner until after midnight. This is the tradition everyone follows.
After the grapes, many people (mostly younger people) go out to party until the morning of the next day, and some have churros for breakfast. Some people wear red underwear too for good luck and love. It’s also common to eat lentils for lunch on the 31st or the 1st —but not for dinner, as there are specific foods traditionally eaten for dinner on New Year’s Eve.
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u/Doitean-feargach555 1d ago
Drinking until blackout drunk in the local with the entire village or town from ages 14-100 years old in attendance to reel in the new year.
Ireland if you didn't realise
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u/no_soc_espanyol Catalunya 1d ago
Eating grapes. Typically it’s supposed to be 12 grapes, but my family just snacks on a bunch without giving caution to the amount we are eating lol
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u/myhealthydessert 15h ago
Here are some of the more interesting and unusual ones in Bulgaria. In some parts of the country, men dress up as kukeri wearing scary costumes with large bells attached to their waist. They dance and make noise to chase away evil spirits, ensuring health and prosperity for the coming year.
Another one that's kids' favourite is "beating" adults for money. 😁 Children perform the survakane tradition, where they tap the backs of their elders with a survachka (a decorated branch, typically from a fruit tree). As they do so, they wish the adults health, prosperity, and good fortune for the year ahead. In return, the children receive small gifts and money.
This video shows the kukeri performances:
https://youtu.be/3kiMRYJm6ag?feature=shared
I just learned about the marzipan pigs in Germany, so funny and cute!
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u/mrbrightside62 Sweden 1d ago
Eat expensive food, get drunk, see a stupid sketch about a lady and her servant, Drink champage and enjoying the neujahrskonzert the day after with some grade of hangover.
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u/nijmeegse79 Netherlands 2d ago
Similair to Norway.
Civilians lighting millions worth of fireworks.
Usually at least one dead because of it, somewhere around 1200wounded(er and gp combined), many handicapped for life. On average 8-12 million worth of damages to private and communal properties and many many animals scared shitless for days with several dead as well. Not to mention setting fire to cars, attackes om emt/police and so on.
Yea tradition s/
And two towns build bonfires on the beach trying to beat each other in hight/size