New Year Traditions Around the World: From 12 Grapes to Midnight Plate Smashing (2026)
January 8th 2024
Updated September 2026
New Year traditions around the world mix ancient calendar rituals with modern customs: Spaniards eat 12 grapes at midnight, Danes smash plates on friends' doors, Colombians walk with an empty suitcase, and Americans watch the ball drop in Times Square. Most festivities run from December 31 (New Year's Eve) into the early hours of January 1, though not every culture marks the new year on that date.
Key takeaways
The earliest recorded New Year celebration is Babylon's 4,000-year-old Akitu festival, not a Roman or Christian invention.
Lucky-food traditions (grapes, lentils, round fruit, pork) share one theme: shape or color is believed to predict money, luck, or a fresh start.
Several countries — including those following the Lunar, Islamic, Ethiopian, and Jewish calendars — do not celebrate New Year on January 1.
The 2026 Times Square Ball is the largest yet: 12.5 feet in diameter and 12,350 pounds, per the Times Square Alliance.
For over 4,000 years, civilisations worldwide have celebrated the beginning of each new year. Nowadays, most New Year's festivities start on December 31, also known as New Year's Eve, the last day of the Gregorian calendar, and continue into the early hours of January 1, New Year's Day. Popular customs include attending parties, eating lucky foods, making resolutions, and watching fireworks displays
In this guide
Where New Year celebrations began
Why January 1 became New Year's Day
Celebrating New Year around the world
Lucky foods around the world
Noise, cleansing, and good-luck rituals
Traditions for love, wealth, and travel
The most unusual New Year traditions still practiced today
Do all countries celebrate New Year on January 1?
New Year traditions vs. New Year's Eve traditions
Quick facts table
Frequently asked questions
Without a doubt, ancient New Year's celebrations were a significant part of the cultural traditions of many societies
The earliest documented New Year celebration is Akitu, an 11-day religious festival held in ancient Babylon around 4,000 years ago, timed to the first new moon after the spring equinox.
For the Babylonians, the beginning of a new year was marked by the first new moon following the vernal equinox, the day in late March with roughly equal hours of daylight and darkness. This was celebrated with Akitu, a grand religious festival lasting 11 days, with a different ritual observed each day.
Akitu marked the new year and commemorated the mythical triumph of the Babylonian sky god Marduk over the sea goddess Tiamat. It also functioned as a political event: a new king was crowned, or the current ruler's divine authority was symbolically renewed, during this window.
Later civilisations linked the first day of the year to an agricultural or astronomical event instead of a purely religious one. In ancient Egypt, the year began with the annual flooding of the Nile, which coincided with the rising of the star Sirius. The Lunar New Year, still observed across East and Southeast Asia today, begins with the second new moon after the winter solstice.
Did you know: In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar added 90 extra days to the calendar in one go to realign it with the sun before introducing the Julian calendar.
On January 1, the day becomes recognised as New Year's Day
January 1 became the first day of the year under the Julian calendar on January 1, 45 B.C., following Julius Caesar's calendar reform.
In the eighth century B.C., Romulus, the founder of Rome, created the early Roman calendar: 10 months and 304 days, starting each year at the vernal equinox. In the seventh century B.C., Numa Pompilius added the months of Januarius and Februarius.
Over time, the calendar drifted out of sync with the sun. In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar consulted the astronomers and mathematicians of his era to fix it and introduced the Julian calendar, the direct ancestor of the Gregorian calendar most countries use today.
As part of the reform, Caesar made January 1 the first day of the year to honour Janus, depicted with two faces: one looking into the past, the other into the future. Romans marked the day with sacrifices to Janus, gift exchanges, laurel-branch decorations, and lively parties.
In medieval Europe, Christian leaders temporarily replaced January 1 with dates of religious significance, such as December 25 (the anniversary of Jesus's birth) and March 25 (the Feast of the Annunciation). Pope Gregory XIII restored January 1 as New Year's Day in 1582 when he introduced the Gregorian calendar.
Do all countries celebrate New Year on January 1?
No. January 1 is the Gregorian New Year, but several calendars mark the new year on a different date.
The Lunar New Year (China, Vietnam, South Korea, and other East/Southeast Asian countries) falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, usually between late January and mid-February.
The Islamic New Year (Hijri calendar) shifts roughly 10–11 days earlier each Gregorian year because it follows a lunar cycle.
The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, falls in September or October and marks the start of the Hebrew civil year.
The Ethiopian New Year (Enkutatash) falls in September, tied to the Ethiopian calendar, which runs roughly seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar.
Thailand's traditional New Year, Songkran, is celebrated in mid-April with a nationwide water festival.
Celebrating New Year's Around The World
New Year's Eve customs cluster around three themes worldwide: eating foods believed to bring luck, making noise or cleansing rituals to drive out bad energy, and small superstitious acts tied to specific wishes such as love, wealth, or travel.
In numerous countries, New Year's festivities begin on December 31 and continue into the early hours of January 1. In Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, people eat a dozen grapes just before midnight, one for each clock chime, representing hopes for each month ahead.
In many parts of the world, traditional dishes feature legumes, believed to resemble coins and signal financial success. Examples include lentils in Italy and black-eyed peas in the southern United States. Pork appears on New Year's Eve tables in Cuba, Austria, Hungary, and Portugal, where pigs symbolise progress and prosperity. In the Netherlands, Mexico, Greece, and elsewhere, ring-shaped cakes and pastries represent a year that has come full circle. In Sweden and Norway, rice pudding with a hidden almond is served on New Year's Eve; whoever finds the almond can expect good fortune for the next 12 months.
In many English-speaking countries, New Year's is welcomed with fireworks and the song "Auld Lang Syne." The custom of making resolutions is believed to trace back to the ancient Babylonians, who made promises at the start of the year to earn the gods' favour, such as vowing to pay off debts and return borrowed farm equipment.
Lucky foods around the world
Round or coin-shaped foods dominate New Year's tables worldwide because their shape is believed to symbolise money and continuity, while pork and long noodles represent progress and long life.
Food | Country or region | What it symbolises |
|---|---|---|
12 grapes or raisins | Spain, Portugal, parts of Latin America | One wish per month of the year ahead |
Lentils | Italy | Coin-shaped legume, symbolising wealth |
Black-eyed peas (Hoppin' John) | Southern United States | Coins and prosperity |
Pork | Cuba, Austria, Hungary, Portugal | Forward progress, since pigs root forward, not back |
Ring-shaped cakes | Netherlands, Mexico, Greece | A year that comes full circle |
Rice pudding with a hidden almond | Sweden, Norway | Good fortune for whoever finds the almond |
Toshikoshi soba noodles | Japan | Long life and endurance, eaten before midnight |
Tteokguk (rice cake soup) | South Korea | Marks turning one year older and starting fresh |
Noise, cleansing, and good-luck rituals
Many cultures use noise, water, or a clean house to symbolically remove bad luck from the previous year before midnight.
Denmark: Households smash old plates and glasses against the doors of friends and family, both to banish bad spirits and to show affection. Danes also jump off chairs or sofas at the stroke of midnight for good luck.
Cuba: People throw a bucket of water out of the front door to cast out the negative energy collected over the past year.
South Africa: In some Johannesburg neighbourhoods, residents throw out old furniture to symbolically let go of the past year.
Japan: Homes undergo osouji, a thorough end-of-year clean, to welcome Toshigami, the Shinto god of the new year.
Scotland: Hogmanay festivities include "redding the house," a deep clean that clears out the fireplace ashes so the household starts the year fresh, followed by "first-footing," where the first visitor after midnight brings a small gift.
Germany and Austria: Bleigießen, or lead pouring, involves melting a small piece of tin or lead, dropping it into cold water, and reading the resulting shape as a forecast for the coming year.
Romania: A folk custom from the Transylvanian region of Romania involves unrolling 12 onion leaves, salting each one to represent a month, and checking which leaves are wettest by morning to predict which months will bring rain.
Traditions for love, wealth, and travel
Colour, direction, and small props carry specific meanings in several New Year's customs: certain colours are worn for love or money, and empty suitcases are carried for travel.
Love: In Italy and Spain, red underwear is worn for luck in relationships. In parts of Latin America, red underwear specifically represents a wish for love in the year ahead.
Wealth: Yellow or gold underwear, worn in several Latin American countries, is associated with a wish for money and financial security.
Travel: In Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador, people walk or run around the block with an empty suitcase at midnight to manifest a year filled with travel.
For travellers who take that suitcase tradition literally, a road trip is one of the simplest ways to start the year: booking a rental car in Mexico or elsewhere ahead of the holiday rush typically costs less than arranging one at the last minute.
The most unusual New Year traditions still practiced today
Beyond fireworks and countdowns, several New Year traditions involve physical rituals with specific, sometimes surprising, origins.
Greece: Podariko, or "good foot," involves everyone leaving the house before midnight so a lucky family member can be the first to step back inside, right foot first, followed by smashing a pomegranate against the door; the more seeds that scatter, the more luck for the year.
Philippines: Round fruits and polka-dot clothing are displayed and worn because circular shapes are believed to resemble coins and attract prosperity. Children jump at midnight, believing it will help them grow taller.
Russia: Celebrations pause for 12 seconds of silence just before midnight, a moment reserved for making a private wish for the year ahead.
Brazil: Many people dress in white and jump over seven ocean waves at midnight as part of the Festa de Iemanjá, honouring the Afro-Brazilian goddess of the sea; each jump represents a different wish.
Ireland: Households bang bread against the walls to chase out bad luck and set an extra place at the dinner table to remember loved ones lost in the previous year.
Watching the ball drop in the United States
The most iconic American New Year's tradition is the ball drop in New York City's Times Square, held almost every year since 1907.
This event has taken place annually since 1907, with the exception of 1942 and 1943, when wartime blackout restrictions replaced the ball drop with a minute of silence. The ball itself has grown dramatically: the original 1907 orb was made of iron and wood, stood 5 feet across, and weighed 700 pounds. The current version, the ninth design and known as the Constellation Ball, measures 12.5 feet in diameter and weighs 12,350 pounds, according to the Times Square Alliance, making it the largest ball in the tradition's history.
Other American towns have built their own versions of the ritual: Dillsburg, Pennsylvania drops a giant pickle, and Tallapoosa, Georgia drops a possum, both at midnight on New Year's Eve. Travellers exploring several U.S. cities over the holidays sometimes plan a short road trip around these local drops; renting a car in the United States ahead of the New Year's holiday period is generally easier to arrange, and often cheaper, than booking in the final days of December, since demand for holiday-season car rentals typically climbs sharply in the last week of the year.
New Year traditions vs. New Year's Eve traditions
New Year's Eve traditions happen on December 31, before midnight, while New Year traditions happen on or after January 1, once the new year has technically started.
Eating 12 grapes, smashing plates, and wearing coloured underwear are New Year's Eve customs, timed to the countdown itself. Visiting a temple for a fresh amulet in Japan, setting New Year's resolutions, and the first-footing tradition in Scotland are New Year's Day customs, carried out after the year has already turned. Some traditions, like Scotland's Hogmanay, span several days and blend both categories into one extended holiday period.
Two practical planning tips
Book road transport early: Airports and rental counters in cities that host major New Year's events, such as New York, Edinburgh, and Rio de Janeiro, sell out of vehicles and rooms well before December 31, so reserving a car a few weeks ahead generally secures a better rate than a last-minute booking.
Check local road closures: Cities that host fireworks, ball drops, or beach gatherings often close central streets from the afternoon of December 31 through the early hours of January 1, so it helps to plan parking and pickup locations outside the restricted zone in advance.
Quick facts table
Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
Oldest recorded New Year celebration | Akitu, ancient Babylon, roughly 4,000 years ago |
Why January 1 was chosen | The Julian calendar took effect on January 1, 45 B.C., following Caesar's reform |
First Times Square ball drop | December 31, 1907 |
Years the ball drop was skipped | 1942 and 1943, due to wartime blackout rules |
Current Times Square ball size | 12.5 feet in diameter, 12,350 pounds (2026 Constellation Ball) |
Countries not celebrating on Jan 1 | China, Vietnam, South Korea (Lunar New Year); Ethiopia (Enkutatash); Thailand (Songkran); Jewish communities (Rosh Hashanah) |
Frequently asked questions
What are the most interesting New Year traditions around the world?
Standouts include Denmark's plate smashing, Colombia's empty-suitcase walk, Greece's pomegranate smash, and Brazil's white-clothing ocean jump, each tied to a specific wish for the year ahead.
What are the most unusual New Year traditions around the world?
Russia's 12 seconds of silence, Romania's onion-leaf rain forecast, and Germany's molten-lead fortune telling (Bleigießen) rank among the least conventional customs still practiced.
Why do people eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve?
The Spanish custom of las doce uvas assigns one grape to each of the clock's 12 midnight chimes, with each grape representing a wish for the corresponding month of the coming year.
What New Year traditions symbolize wealth and prosperity?
Coin-shaped foods such as lentils and black-eyed peas, round fruits in the Philippines, and yellow underwear in parts of Latin America are all tied to wishes for money and prosperity.
What are some New Year traditions for love and relationships?
Red underwear, worn in Italy, Spain, and several Latin American countries, is the most widespread custom tied specifically to love and romance for the coming year.
What are some New Year traditions involving travel?
Walking or running around the block with an empty suitcase at midnight, practiced in Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador, is meant to bring a year full of travel.
Why do people make noise or set off fireworks on New Year's Eve?
Loud noise, from fireworks to banging pots, is widely believed across cultures to scare away evil spirits and bad luck before the new year begins.
Do all countries celebrate New Year on January 1?
No. The Gregorian New Year falls on January 1, but the Lunar New Year, Islamic New Year, Rosh Hashanah, and Ethiopia's Enkutatash all fall on different dates.
How is New Year different from New Year's Eve?
New Year's Eve refers specifically to December 31 and its midnight countdown, while New Year and New Year's Day refer to January 1 and the customs carried out once the year has turned.
What is the origin of the ball drop in Times Square?
The tradition began on December 31, 1907, organized by New York Times owner Adolph Ochs, and has continued nearly every year since, aside from a wartime pause in 1942 and 1943.
Bringing your own New Year tradition to life
Whether it is a dozen grapes, an empty suitcase, or a midnight swim, most New Year traditions share the same goal: closing out one year with intention and opening the next one with hope. For travellers planning to welcome the new year somewhere new, it generally helps to book affordable car rentals with FinalRentals before the holiday rush, so transport is one less thing to plan at midnight.
Methodology
This guide was researched and fact-checked in August 2026 using primary and authoritative sources, including official cultural organizations, tourism boards, universities, historical references, and event organizers. Current Times Square Ball details were verified through the Times Square Alliance, while country-specific traditions were cross-checked with relevant cultural and institutional sources. Historical claims were reviewed against established references, with attention to dates, calendar systems, and cultural context. Where traditions vary by region or community, the article reflects those differences to provide accurate and balanced context.
