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Even if you don’t live in America, you’re probably familiar with our New Year’s Eve traditions, being as how they’re played on TV stations across the globe and portrayed in countless movies. That being said, there are tons more celebrations out there that don’t involve kissing at midnight, watching a ball drop and staring at fireworks in awe. Here are a few New Year’s Eve traditions from around the world.
Image Via asterix611 [Flickr]
It’s always nice to get a gift from a neighbor, friend or family member, but in some countries, visitors bearing gifts are practically guaranteed on the first day of the year. The tradition is commonly known as First-Footing and while it’s practiced everywhere from Russia to Wales to parts of the U.S., it is most common in Scotland. While the gifts brought for the occasion are important as they represent the type of luck the recipient will receive, it is also important who brings the gift. Ideally, the first person to enter a home at this period will be a tall, dark man, as this will bring the most luck.
Scotland’s New Year’s Eve celebrations are known as Hogmanay and the celebration is responsible for introducing the “Auld Lang Syne” song to the world. But the festivities vary from place to place and while some areas celebrate by singing and linking arms at the appropriate point in the song, other celebrations are much more dangerous.
In Stonehaven, locals make up balls of chicken wire filled with newspapers, sticks and rags that sometimes measure up to two feet wide. Each ball is attached to a chain or nonflammable rope about three feet long. At midnight, the balls are then set on fire and swung around the heads of their creators as other revelers watch the spectacle. Eventually, the fireballs are put out or thrown into the harbor. Despite the dangers, the event has drawn in many tourists and the small town now sees around 12,000 people standing in the city streets to watch the fire balls spin. If you want to see the action without risking life and limb, the celebration is now streamed on the internet.
Image Via MrPurple [Wikipedia]
If you just can’t get enough burning out of your New Year’s experience and you’ve already visited Stonehaven, then perhaps it’s time to purchase a ticket to Ecuador. That’s because on New Year’s Eve, locals line the streets with effigies of people who have made a negative impact on the last year, most commonly, unpopular politicians. Thousands of dummies are lit up at the stroke of midnight in an effort to prevent the negative events associate with those people from impacting the new year.
Image Via lowfill [Flickr]
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Jenny and Dave Prager brought us First Impressions of the USA last month. Some of the response they received from global visitors to the USA concerned the common greeting, “How are you?” Lakshmi says:
“When I set foot at the Dulles airport in DC, the immigration/customs guy asked me how I was doing — and I was taken aback. Am I supposed to know this guy? Does this guy know my cousin? And so, is that how he knows that I would be here at the airport today? Did my cousin ask him to take care of me until he could pick me up at the airport? If so why didn’t my cousin tell me? I looked like a deer facing headlights.”
She wasn’t the only one who was confused by the phrase, as well as “thank you”, “you’re welcome”, and the constant smiles of Americans. Read more at Our Delhi Struggle. Link -Thanks, Dave!
Minnesotastan found this 1944 photograph titled “Alter Silvester in Urnäsch” at FOTOGRAFÍA and did some investigating. Silvester means New Years Eve, so the child is not asking for treats on Halloween, as one might assume. Commenters helped fill in the blanks.
To specify further: technically the boy’s not carrying a cow bell but a trychel (Treichel in German, Treichle in Swiss German). Wikipedia puts the difference thus: “As opposed to regular cast metal bells, trychlen are made of hammered sheet metal. This results in a less clean, clanking sound, but at the same time results in a bell that is less heavy and thus easier to carry”.
What are little kids doing wearing masks and carrying cow bells on New Years Eve? Find out at TYWKIWDBI. Link
(Image credit: Hans Peter Klauser)
What, did you think face-stretching and skin-piercing were modern fads? Not by a long shot! People have been undergoing painful procedure to modify their bodies (and their looks) for thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands, of years.
(Image credit: Flickr user Rita Willaert)
Lip stretching is a body modification that goes back 10,000 years and had been practiced all over the world, from Siberia to South America, from the Middle East to Europe, although there is no evidence that the custom traveled from one area to another. The procedure survives only in Africa and among some Amazonian tribes in South America. The practice is seen among women in the Mursi and Surma tribes of Ethiopia. The lower lip is pierced and a peg is inserted, to be replaced with a larger peg as the skin stretches. A plate or labret is inserted when the piercing is large enough. Traditionally, this is done as a young woman prepares to marry, but is now a personal decision rather than an obligation.
(Image credit: Wikipedia user Robrrb)
Skull binding has been practiced at various points in history in widespread parts of the world, with some evidence of Neanderthal skulls that had been shaped around 45,000 BCE in Iraq. The custom of head shaping has been most notable among skulls excavated in Peru, where the practice dates back 9,000 years. The skull can only be shaped during infancy. The bones eventually harden to the point that skull modification would only break the cranial bones. An infant’s skull would be wrapped with cloth (sometimes with wooden boards added) to restrict its expansion sideways, causing the head to grow long and tall instead. This practice was usually restricted to the wealthier classes. Reproductions of such skulls can be purchased online.
Customs officials at the Dublin Airport at first thought the x-ray showed a toy dog in the suitcase, but they opened it up and out popped a live puppy! A Bulgarian man on a flight from Madrid was trying to smuggle the young chihuahua.
It is understood the dog was being smuggled in as a gift for someone.
Legally, dogs must have clearance and a health certificate before being brought into the country.
The animal, which Mr Broni said seemed tired but unharmed, was handed over to Department of Agriculture officials where it was placed in quarantine.
The man was not detained, but a file is being compiled on the case. Link -via Unique Daily
Our very own Miss Cellania wrote a really neat article for mental_floss about 8 truly strange Christmas customs. This one to the left is "Caga Tió" or the "pooping log.":
The Catalan custom is still celebrated in Spain, where you can buy your own el Caga Tió. The log is hollowed out, with legs and a face added. You must “feed” him every day beginning on December 8th. On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, put him in the fireplace and beat him with sticks until he poops out small candies, fruits, and nuts. When he is through, the final object dropped is a salt herring, a garlic bulb, or an onion. Oh yeah, there is a traditional song the family can sing to encourage the process.
poop log,
poop turrón,
hazelnuts and cottage cheese,
if you don’t poop well,
I’ll hit you with a stick,
poop log!
