New Year's Eve

What is New Year's Eve?

New Year's Eve is a word for the last day of the old year. This is the day adjacent between the old year and the new year, considered as the most important holiday, marking the end of an old year.

New Year's Eve is an important time, heaven and earth harmonize, yin and yang blend so that all things sprout, and vitality spreads.

On New Year's Eve, many countries in both the West and the East often organize large-scale concentrated fireworks or other festivals. 

The Spiritual Context of New Year's Traditions

With its emphasis on romance and excess, New Year's Eve may appear to be a completely secular occasion. However, underneath all the glitz and glam comes an ancient celebration with profound spiritual roots. People have been marking the end of one year and the beginning of another in similar ways for generations.

The ancient Romans celebrated with six days of revelry that are likely known to us today. St. Boniface, an English missionary who visited Rome in 742, was outraged by the way the Romans celebrated the New Year, Kalends of January, with "dancing in the streets, heathenish screams, sacrilegious songs, tables piled with food, and women donning amulets and offering them for sale."

A Rebirth Period

Due to the fact that the Winter Solstice marks the beginning of the year's increasing days, it has long been seen as the birth of the year—both by pagans celebrating the return of the Sun and by Christians greeting the birth of the Son of God. Between the Solstice and the New Year, a wonderful, bright time period exists during which everything is possible. In England, the Twelve Days of Christmas were regarded as omen days that might be used to forecast the future year's weather. In Scotland, no court exercised jurisdiction during these days, while in Ireland, custom believed that anybody who died during the Twelve Days went directly to Heaven.

The days between the Winter Solstice and the New Year were viewed in ancient Babylon as a time of conflict between Chaos and Order, with Chaos attempting to take over the universe. Other civilizations (Hindu, Chinese, and Celtic) considered this as a period for reversing order and rules—celebrities would take into servant duties or dress in costumes for a while until order was restored.

Beginning From Scratch

While each culture's New Year celebrations are unique, many motifs recur. The weeks leading up to New Year's Day is a time for reorganization: thorough housecleaning, debt repayment, return of borrowed items, reflection on one's failings, reconciliation of quarrels, and almsgiving. Many tribes believe that by jumping into the sea or a nearby body of water, they may physically wipe the slate clean.

I've been informed that in certain places in Italy, residents must be cautious of falling things when they toss their old couches, chairs, and even refrigerators out their windows on New Year's Eve. In Ecuador, people create straw-stuffed dummies to reflect the events of the previous year. At midnight, these "ano viejo" effigies are burnt, symbolically eradicating the past.

Whatever preparations are done, most traditions dictate that they should be completed by New Year's Eve at midnight. According to British legend, you should not sweep on New Year's Day or remove anything from the house—even rubbish. You want to bring only new things into the house in order to ensure abundance in the future year. If you have to carry something out, bring something else in first, preferably a coin hidden outside the previous night.

Good Fortune Rituals (and Underwear)

Everything you do on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day carries with it future importance. The American tradition of spending the night with your significant other and kissing them at midnight ensures that your relationship will thrive in the following year. On December 31st in Rio de Janeiro, almost a million people congregate on the beaches to commemorate Yemanja, the Yoruba "Mother of the Sea," who brings good fortune.

Food and Money: Affordability

Everything has importance on New Year's Day, and the first person to cross your threshold after midnight in the British Isles brings good fortune to the home. The ideal "first-footer" in Scotland was a tall, attractive, dark-haired guy who brought presents of whisky, food, a piece of coal or firewood, and a silver coin. He arrived silently, and no one spoke to him until he lit the coal, poured the head of the house a drink of scotch, and wished everyone a Happy New Year. In France, children knock on their parents' bedroom door, claiming to be the embodiment of health, plenty, and joy, which the parents embrace.

According to legend, the food consumed on New Year's Day has an effect on the quality of the future year. The ancient Romans traded bay and palm branches embellished with sweets, dates, figs, and golden fruits. The objects strung on the branch represented wishes for a lovely, fertile, and wealthy new year.

Neapolitans continue to wrap dried figs in laurel leaves and exchange them as a form of insurance against the next year's lack of plenty. Additionally, they produce confections with caramelized dough and little almond bits, ensuring that the year is sweet.

The Piedmontese consume little grains of rice that symbolize money. The traditional Umbrian New Year's cake, composed of almonds, sugar, and egg whites, is formed like a coiled snake, most likely to symbolize the way snakes shed their skin to renew themselves, much like people do when they say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new. Additionally, Italians serve lentils, raisins, and oranges, which are symbolic of wealth, good fortune, and the promise of love.

On New Year's Day in the American South, it is customary to eat cornbread, cabbage, and black-eyed peas. Peas represent coins or copper money, cornbread represents gold, and cabbage green represents folding money.

A Japanese New Year's tradition is the money tree: a vase filled with pine and cypress branches and adorned with old coins, paper pomegranates, and flowers. At the foot of children's beds, old coins (with holes) are strung on colored threads in the shape of a dragon. This is referred to as "cash to get through the year." It is intended to be preserved rather than wasted. Money, on the other hand, is presented as a gift, typically in red envelopes.

While many of these practices may appear to be superstitions, they all come from the same belief: by honoring the previous year and beginning the new one in the manner in which we wish it to begin, we establish our intentions for the next year. Whether we assemble in Times Square to watch the ball drop, let off firecrackers at midnight, or clink champagne glasses with our loved ones, we are commemorating a significant change and ushering in a new beginning. I wish you a prosperous new year filled with all of the benefits you desire.

Printerval Shop sells Guyana-related products.

Printerval Shop offers a diverse choice of items with one-of-a-kind theme designs by international artists. For people who adore  New Year's Eve, there are products printed with photos of the day.

T-shirts, Hoodies, Tank Tops, as well as decorative items such as Cups, Flags…, are available. And the items also vary in terms of size, color, and quality, giving you additional options.

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