24: New Years!
In this episode, we are lightening things up and talking about the New Year. We are reflecting on 2025 and looking forward to 2026. We will review our words for the year and share our words for the upcoming year. Plus, we’ll talk about our traditions for New Year’s Eve.
Traditions from around the world:
🇪🇸 Spain – The 12 Grapes of Luck
At midnight, Spaniards eat 12 grapes — one for each clock strike. Each grape represents good luck for one month of the year. If you finish all 12 before the last chime, your year is said to be prosperous.
🇩🇰 Denmark – Smashing Plates for Friendship
Danes save old dishes all year and then smash them on friends’ doorsteps on New Year’s Eve. The more broken plates you find outside your door, the more loyal friends you have.
🇧🇷 Brazil – White Clothes & Ocean Offerings
Brazilians wear white for peace and renewal, and many head to the beach to jump seven waves, making a wish with each one. They also toss flowers into the ocean as offerings to the sea goddess Yemanjá.
🇮🇹 Italy – Red Underwear for Good Fortune
In Italy, wearing red underwear on New Year’s Eve is believed to bring love, luck, and prosperity. (Bonus: it’s only lucky if it’s gifted to you.)
🇯🇵 Japan – Ringing 108 Bells
At Buddhist temples, bells ring 108 times to symbolize the cleansing of 108 human sins or desires. Families also eat toshikoshi soba (buckwheat noodles) to symbolize long life and resilience.
🇵🇭 Philippines – Circles Everywhere
Filipinos believe round shapes bring wealth, so homes are decorated with polka dots, round fruits, and circular foods. Many even wear polka-dotted clothes!
🇨🇱 Chile – Sleep in the Cemetery
In the city of Talca, some families spend New Year’s Eve in the cemetery beside loved ones who’ve passed, to enter the new year together in spirit.
🇨🇴 Colombia – Empty Suitcase Adventures
Colombians carry an empty suitcase around the block at midnight to invite a year full of travel and adventure.
🇫🇮 Finland – Melting Metal Fortunes
Finns melt a small piece of tin or lead and pour it into cold water. The shape it forms is interpreted to predict your fortune for the coming year — like reading tea leaves, but metallic.
🇬🇷 Greece – Hanging Onions & Breaking Pomegranates
Greeks hang onions on their doors as a symbol of rebirth. On New Year’s Day, they smash a pomegranate on the floor — the more seeds that scatter, the more luck and abundance in the year ahead.
🇪🇨 Ecuador – Burning “Año Viejo” Dolls
Ecuadorians make scarecrow-like effigies, often representing bad luck, politicians, or personal hardships, and burn them at midnight to symbolically clear out the old year.
🇺🇸 United States – The Midnight Kiss
Many Americans share a kiss at midnight, believed to strengthen bonds and set the tone for love in the coming year. (And of course, the Times Square Ball Drop is its own kind of ritual!)
However you celebrate, we hope that you all have a safe and wonderful holiday break!
As we look forward to the new year, we are visualizing what we hope to give and gain. Where we want to be a year from now. And, what we should bring with us versus the things we should leave in 2025.
We will be back in 2026! Thank you for listening this year, and we look forward to what next year will bring!
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