What are you doing for New Year’s Eve? Maybe gathering with friends, popping a bottle of bubbly, raising a midnight toast, and watching the fireworks? Elsewhere around the globe, people will be donning red underwear, slicing up watermelon and pomelos, and banging bread against the walls. To add an international flair to your end-of-year celebrations at home, try some of these 15 New Year’s Eve traditions from around the globe.
Wearing white while jumping into the ocean in Brazil
Wearing white on New Year’s Eve comes from Candomblé—an African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil in the 1800s—and symbolizes peace and spiritual cleansing. In Brazil, the Festa de Lemanjá takes place on this night to celebrate Lemanjá, the Afro-Brazilian goddess of the sea. The culmination of the event is when everyone—dressed in white—runs into the water right at midnight to jump over seven waves. Each wave and jump signifies a different request the swimmer is making to a different orixá, or deity. Consider them New Year’s resolutions or hopes.
In much of Latin America, as well as Spain and Portugal, raisins are considered a lucky food.
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Eating lucky foods
New Year’s Eve is often celebrated with a meal in the company of friends and family. In some places, this means eating specific “lucky” foods. In Spain, Portugal, and some countries in Latin America (such as Colombia), for example, it’s 12 grapes or raisins, and in Italy, 12 spoonfuls of lentils—one with each of the 12 chimes of the clock at midnight.
Germans prefer marzipan shaped into a pig for luck, whereas in the Netherlands, people eat oliebollen, rounds of fried dough. Estonians eat 7, 9, or even 12 times on New Year’s Eve, as they believe for each meal consumed, the person gains the strength of that many people the following year.
Across the Southern United States, communities dig into collard greens and black-eyed peas for luck and prosperity on New Year’s Day. Fun fact: Collard greens are chosen for their color—it symbolizes money.
Hogmanay in Scotland
In Scotland, Hogmanay is a New Year’s Eve party that starts on December 29 and ends on New Year’s Day. There are many variations of Hogmanay celebrations throughout the country, but the most common tradition is that of “first footing,” which involves being the first to visit friends and neighbors, often with a symbolic gift in hand.
Much like in the United States, people gather to sing “Auld Lang Syne” as the clock strikes midnight, but one of the most important New Year’s traditions starts well before the night’s celebrations. This is the redding of the house, a deep clean around your home, from the cabinets to the front door. One spot that’s focused on is the fireplace—all old ashes are cleaned out so everyone in the house can start the year off fresh.
If you happen to be in Edinburgh for the festivities, expect to see pipers and drummers leading torch-wielding locals on a procession throughout the city on December 29. And on New Year’s Day, the party ends with a bracing swim in the very chilly waters of the estuary Firth of Forth.
In Filipino culture, round objects symbolize good fortune and prosperity.
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Wearing polka dots and eating round fruits in the Philippines
To ensure a happy new year, Filipinos believes that wearing round shapes (such as polka dots) promotes prosperity and good fortune. Eating round fruits—like oranges, watermelon, longan, grapes, and pomelos—is considered fortuitous as well. Many Filipinos gather 12 or 13 round fruits (the exact number is up for debate) and display them as the centerpiece of their dinner table.
Another fun one for kids is jumping as high as you can as soon as midnight hits. Some people believe this will help them grow taller in the New Year.
Related: These Are the Philippines’ 11 Best Dishes
12 seconds of silence before midnight in Russia
Russians reflect on the past year by remembering their most important events during the hours leading up to midnight,. They also take 12 seconds of silence before the stroke of midnight to make wishes for the coming year.
Walking around with an empty suitcase in Mexico
Here’s one we can really get behind: In Mexico, to help ring in a year filled with travel and new experiences, people will walk around with an empty suitcase or set it in the middle of a room and stroll around it. Others go further and take a full lap around the block with their empty luggage. This tradition is practiced in other Latin American countries, too, such as Ecuador and Colombia.
Throwing a bucket of water out the front door in Cuba
In Cuba, people symbolically gather all of the bad spirits and negative energy from the past 365 days and toss them right out the front door. It’s not uncommon to see buckets full of dirty water flying out of homes during the countdown to midnight. If you can’t make it to Cuba and want to experience this yourself, consider Little Havana in Miami.
Pomegranate trees are believed to be native to Greece and, in ancient Greek myth, symbolize fertility and abundance.
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Hanging and smashing pomegranates in Greece
Podariko, a Greek custom that roughly translates to “good foot,” aims to bring luck at the start of the year. Before the holiday, households will hang pomegranates, believed to be a sign of luck, prosperity, and fertility, from their door. Then, on New Year’s Eve just before midnight, everyone will shut off the lights and leave the house so they can send a lucky individual to be the first to reenter the house, right foot first. When done correctly, it brings the family good fortune for the year. Afterward, a second person will take the pomegranate in their right hand and smash it against the door to see just how much luck—the more juicy seeds that spill out, the more luck the new year will bring.
Melting lead to predict the future in Germany and Austria
In Austria, Germany, and the German-speaking part of Switzerland, it’s customary to do Bleigießen (literally “lead pouring”). This is the practice of heating small pieces of lead or tin, then casting them in cold water and making a prediction for the new year based on the shapes that form. For example, if a ball forms, luck will roll your way. If you want to do this at home, search “Bleigießen kit,” which will have all the supplies you need.
Searching for the man with many noses in Spain
In the Catalonia region of northern Spain, a special character appears on the last day of the year. L’home dels nassos, or the man with many noses, has as many noses as there are days left in the year, and he grants wishes—if you can find him. According to this Spanish tradition, children are encouraged to look for him, rarely realizing that on the last day of the year, he only has one nose left and is, therefore, hard to spot.
All you need for this Romanian New Year’s Eve tradition is a single onion and some salt.
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Making an onion calendar in Romania
The Romanian tradition of making an onion calendar on New Year’s Eve to predict rain in the coming year is believed to originate from the Transylvanian city of Hunedoara. Take an onion and gently unroll 12 of its leaves, arranging them in order of the 12 months of the year. Put half a teaspoon of salt on each, then leave them overnight. In the morning, check on your onion sheets; if all of the salt has melted on certain months, it means those months will be rainy.
Jumping off a chair or sofa in Denmark
At midnight, Danes will jump off a chair or sofa—literally jumping into the new year. It’s seen as good luck if you do and bad luck if you don’t, so be sure to take a leap if you ever celebrate New Year’s in Denmark. They also have a tradition of breaking plates, which represents the act of removing negative energy and ill will.
Wearing red underwear in Italy and Spain
Italians and Spaniards both wear red underwear, bras, or socks for luck. However, Spaniards insist the underwear must also be new to be lucky. You can pull that red underwear out again for Lunar New Year (starting February 17, 2026); celebrants of Chinese New Year also don red undergarments to ward off bad luck and usher in a prosperous year.
Japanese omamori can be found in Shinto shrines throughout Japan and are often dedicated to a local kami (a deity) or Buddhist figure.
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Visiting a temple for lucky amulets in Japan
Japan’s New Year’s traditions have a wholesome focus. Shōgatsu (New Year) is usually celebrated with a visit to the local temple to exchange last year’s lucky amulets (omamori) for new ones. Afterward, people will feast on traditional New Year’s foods, such as prawns (believed to bring a long life), kombu (edible kelp, whose name sounds similar to yorokobu, meaning to be delighted), and herring roe (to boost fertility).
Setting an extra place at the table in Ireland
The Irish have several New Year’s traditions, such as banging the outside walls of their houses with bread to keep away bad luck and evil spirits and starting the year with a spotless, freshly cleaned home. But one of the most well-known is setting an additional plate at the dinner table for any loved ones lost in the prior year.
This article was originally published in 2015 and most recently updated on December 15, 2025, with current information.
