New Years Traditions Around the World

New Years Traditions at Midnight on New Year’s Eve

The last minutes of December 31 have their own rituals.

1. Times Square has dropped a ball since 1907 The first New Year’s Eve ball drop on One Times Square was held on December 31, 1907, to welcome 1908. It has been held every year since, except in 1942 and 1943 because of wartime blackouts. ↳ Times Square Ball
2. Spain eats twelve grapes at midnight In Spain people eat one grape on each of the twelve clock strikes at midnight, one for each of the coming twelve months. The custom dates back to at least 1895 and was popularised in 1909 by Alicante vine growers with a grape surplus. The best-known place to do it is the Puerta del Sol in Madrid. ↳ Twelve Grapes
3. Japanese temples ring their bells 108 times On New Year’s Eve, most Japanese Buddhist temples strike their bell 108 times around midnight, a custom called Joya no Kane. It came to Japan from the Zen temples of Song dynasty China. ↳ Joya no Kane
4. Japan eats noodles to cut off the old year Toshikoshi soba is eaten on New Year’s Eve. Because soba noodles break easily as you eat them, the dish stands for letting go of the year’s hardships. The custom started around the Edo period. ↳ Toshikoshi soba
5. “Auld Lang Syne” began as a Burns poem The song sung at the stroke of midnight is a Scots poem Robert Burns wrote in 1788, based on an older folk song. The title means roughly “old long since”, or “for the sake of old times”. ↳ Auld Lang Syne
6. Finns and Germans read the future in molten metal In Finland, people melt tin in a ladle on New Year’s Eve and drop it into cold water, then read the shape: a bubbly surface means money, a broken shape misfortune. The practice is called molybdomancy, and Germany has its own version. ↳ Molybdomancy
7. Germany watches the same sketch every year Dinner for One, an 18-minute comedy sketch by British writer Lauri Wylie, recorded in English by German broadcaster NDR in 1963, is shown every New Year’s Eve in Germany and several other European countries. As of 1995 it was the most frequently repeated programme on German television. ↳ Dinner for One
8. A Scottish town swings fireballs In Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, locals swing balls of chicken wire stuffed with burning newspaper and rags on chains as the bell marks the new year, then throw the still-burning fireballs into the harbour. ↳ Hogmanay

New Years Traditions for New Year’s Day

January 1 is about luck, food and, in some places, very cold water.

9. The first visitor brings the year’s luck In Scottish and Northern English folklore, the “first-foot” is the first person to enter a home on New Year’s Day, and brings good fortune for the year. A tall, dark-haired man is traditionally preferred. ↳ First-foot
10. The American South eats peas for pennies In the southern United States, Hoppin’ John, rice with black-eyed peas, is eaten with collard greens on New Year’s Day for a prosperous year. The peas stand for coins, and a coin is sometimes added to the pot. ↳ Hoppin’ John
11. Greece hides a coin in a cake Vasilopita, “St. Basil’s pie”, is cut on New Year’s Day in Greece and across Southeastern Europe. It hides a coin or trinket, and whoever finds it has good luck for the year. ↳ Vasilopita
12. Thousands start the year in icy water Vancouver’s Polar Bear Swim Club has run a New Year’s Day plunge since 1920, with a record 2,128 swimmers in 2000. In the Netherlands, around 60,000 people dive into the sea at Scheveningen every New Year’s Day. ↳ Polar bear plunge
13. The Rose Parade never runs on a Sunday Pasadena’s Rose Parade has been held on New Year’s Day since 1890. When January 1 falls on a Sunday it moves to Monday, a rule from 1893 meant to avoid disturbing horses tied up outside church services. ↳ Rose Parade
14. Philadelphia’s Mummers have paraded since 1901 The Mummers Parade, held every New Year’s Day in Philadelphia since 1901, is the longest-running continuous folk parade in the United States. Clubs compete in costumes and string band routines that take months to prepare. ↳ Mummers Parade
15. Millions visit a shrine in the first three days Hatsumōde is the first visit of the year to a Japanese shrine or temple, usually on January 1, 2 or 3. Tokyo’s Meiji Shrine had 3.45 million visitors in 1998. ↳ Hatsumōde
16. Japan’s New Year food comes in stacked boxes Osechi ryōri, the traditional Japanese New Year foods, are packed in special boxes called jūbako, which look like bentō boxes and are stacked before and after use. ↳ Osechi

New Years Traditions on Other Calendars

Not every new year starts on January 1.

17. Firecrackers began as monster repellent Legend says Chinese New Year began with a beast called the Nian, which was afraid of the colour red and loud noises. That is why villagers hung red decorations and set off firecrackers and drums to scare it away. ↳ Chinese New Year
18. Red envelopes went digital in 2014 Red envelopes of money are given at Chinese New Year, where they are also called “money warding off old age”. WeChat launched digital red envelopes during the 2014 Chinese New Year holiday. ↳ Red envelope
19. In Korea, a bowl of soup makes you a year older Eating tteokguk, rice cake soup, on Korean New Year was traditionally said to bring luck and add a year of age, so “How many bowls of tteokguk have you eaten?” was a way of asking someone’s age. ↳ Tteokguk
20. Korean families bow deeply to their elders On Seollal, people in traditional clothes perform sebae, a deep bow to grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles to wish them a happy new year. ↳ Korean New Year
21. The Persian New Year table has seven S’s For Nowruz, which falls on the spring equinox, families set a haft-sin table of seven symbolic items whose Persian names start with the letter “seen”. Nowruz was added to UNESCO’s intangible heritage list in 2010. ↳ Haft-sin
22. Rosh Hashanah starts with apples and honey Rosh Hashanah meals usually include apples dipped in honey for a sweet new year, a custom added in the Middle Ages. The holiday is also marked by blasts of the shofar. ↳ Rosh Hashanah
23. Thailand rings in its new year with water fights Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year in April, is known for public water fights that symbolise ritual cleansing. It was Thailand’s official New Year until 1888. ↳ Songkran

Where New Years Traditions Came From

24. Resolutions go back to Babylon Around 2000 BC, Babylonians held a 12-day new year festival, Akitu, and made promises to pay their debts and return borrowed farm equipment, an early form of the New Year’s resolution. ↳ New Year’s resolution
25. January 1 became New Year’s Day for Roman politics Rome came to celebrate the new year on the first of January after it became the day new consuls took office in 153 BC. January itself is named after Janus, the two-faced god of beginnings. ↳ New Year’s Day
26. The Pacific sees the new year first and last The first places to reach midnight are the Line Islands of Kiribati, Samoa and Tonga, just west of the International Date Line. American Samoa, Baker Island and Howland Island are among the last. ↳ New Year’s Eve

New Years Traditions vs. Our Other Holiday Facts

This page covers the turn of the year. For the season before it, read our Christmas facts and our fun facts about November, which are sourced the same way. Scotland’s Hogmanay and Bonfire Night both feature fire; the November page has the story of 1605.

How to Use These New Years Traditions

Read one tradition aloud while you wait for midnight, try one from another country at your party, or turn the list into a quiz: which country swallows twelve grapes, and which rings 108 bells? Each takes 15 to 30 seconds. Want something darker for a winter night? Browse our stories, try Krampus stories or weird history facts.

How We Checked These New Years Traditions

Every one of these new years traditions links to the Wikipedia article we checked it against on October 23, 2026. Where a custom rests on legend, such as the Nian beast, we say so. We left out popular claims we could not confirm. If you spot an error, tell us through the contact page.

New Years Traditions Around the World — FAQ