Fun Facts about New Year’s Eve/Day

New Year’s is a time to gather with friends and family, and nothing makes party time more fun than a game of trivia. It’s a time for celebration, personal reflection from the past year, and hope for a more prosperous one to come. We’ve gathered New Year’s Day facts, from the origins and history of the New Year, through symbols, superstitions and traditions, to how New Year’s is celebrated around the world.

The First New Year Was Celebrated by The Ancient Babylonians 4,000 Years Ago.

New Year’s Day is the oldest celebrated holiday. The first New Year was celebrated by the ancient Babylonians 4,000 years ago. The ancient Babylonians celebrated the New Year on the first new moon after thespring equinox. They called it Akitu, and it was a major festival that lasted 11 days. During this festival, the Babylonians made New Year’s resolutions to keep themselves in good standing with the gods. they often resolved to get out of debt or to return borrowed farm equipment.

The First New Year’s Eve Celebration in Times Square.

The first New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square was held on December 31, 1904; The New York Times’ owner, Adolph Ochs, decided to celebrate the opening of the newspaper’s new headquarters, One Times Square, with a New Year’s fireworks show on the southern roof of the building to welcome 1905. Close to 200,000 people attended the event, displacing traditional celebrations that had normally been held at Trinity Church.

A Fireworks Ban Led to The Iconic New Year’s Eve Time Square Ball Drop.

The fireworks display in Times Square has become an annual tradition. But in 1907, the city government outlawed that practice, citing safety concerns. So Adolph Ochs---who owned The New York Times---replaced the pyrotechnics with a lightbulb-studded ball of wood and iron. He took a cue from England’s famous time balls, which descended at specific hours at places like the Greenwich Observatory in order to help sailors measure accurate time while on the river or at sea.

How America Celebrate New Year

In the United States, people begin to celebrate the New Year on December 31st, New Year’s Eve. Families and friends gather to share a meal and “ring in” the New Year, often with a toast and a song. Americans also enjoy the tradition of watching the New Year’s festivities at Times Square (New York City) which are broadcast on TV.

A popular American tradition is making New Year’s resolutions, when people promise to do something better in the year to come. Some even write down their New Year’s resolutions and share them with their friends.

The kiss at midnight symbolizes the purification into the New Year, while making a deafening sound is said to drive away evil spirits.

Traditional New Year foods

If you’re celebrating the end of the year with more traditional Americans, you might find the kitchen table laden with some ‘lucky’ foods: Favorites include pork, to represent progress and prosperity, cabbage and beans, to represent money, and circular foods, including bagels, donuts, cakes and biscuits, which represent coming full circle, and often come with trinkets or money baked inside. If you want to combine them all, whip up a batch of Hoppin’ John, a traditional New Year’s dish popular in the American South, consisting of black-eyed peas, cabbage, ham, sweet potatoes and cornbread.

The Symbol of New Year

If Santa is the most common symbol associated with Christmas, then Baby New Year is the symbol most commonly associated with… you guessed it, New Year’s! Baby New Year is often seen in a diaper, black top hat, and a sash showing the numbers of the new year. Myth states that he matures into an old man during the year.

New Year’s Cheers

A bubbly start. It is estimated that Americans drink close to 360 million glasses of sparkling wine during New Year’s Eve celebrations. That’s a lot of bottom’s up!

The Original New Year’s Eve Novelty Glasses Came Out in 1991.

Seattleites Peter Cicero and Richard Sclafani are credited with inventing those number-themed eyeglasses now seen at New Year’s parties all over the world. Their debut set, which spelled out “1991,” sold 500 pairs, according to the Wall Street Journal. The next year, about 3000 sets were purchased.

Auld Lang Syne

Every New Year’s Eve once the ball has dropped in Times Square, we take part in a tradition that many of us know hardly anything about! The singing of Auld Lang Syne marks the end of another year and the beginning of a brand new one. The seed of the song originated from traditional folk tunes sung throughout Scotland which were still being sung during the late 1700s.

The traditional melody of the song is rarely heard nowadays and is more folkish — the version we’re familiar with dates to 1929. During a New Year’s Eve broadcast at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, big bandleader Guy Lombardo directed his band through a version of Auld Lang Syne as transitional music. This was played just after midnight, and since his band’s performance was being broadcast by radio to homes throughout the country, it inadvertently became a tradition throughout the country. He was so synonymous with the holiday that he was eventually nicknamed “Mr. New Year’s Eve,” so the rest of the world followed suit.

12 Grapes

In Spain, the locals fancy a bit of a challenge when they celebrate. Spanish tradition dictates that once midnight arrives; you’ve got to eat 12 grapes (one eaten with every strike of the clock). When eating each grape, people are also encouraged to make a wish for the new year ahead. If you find yourself in Spain on New Year’s Eve and you don’t have any grapes on hand, don’t panic --- you can easily find grapes on sale in all tourist shops and pubs in every town and city in the run-up to midnight. Handily, these grapes even come in packs of 12!

Seven Waves

If you’re lucky enough to find yourself on a beach in Brazil on New Year’s Eve, then you’ve got to make sure that you celebrate the new year like the locals do --- by jumping into the sea when the clock strikes 12! New Year’s Eve purists make sure to drench themselves from head to toe by jumping over seven waves, making a New Year’s wish every time they clear a wave. If you really want to make sure that these wishes come true, then you should don different-colored underwear for each wish. Yellow for prosperity, red or pink for love, green for hope, and white for peace. But how do you ensure that your wish is granted? By making sure that the underwear is brand new!

Red Underwear

Whether you’re partial to boxer shorts, briefs or something a little more daring, if you’re celebrating New Year’s Eve in Italy, you need to make sure of one thing: that your underpants are red. In Italy, wearing red underwear guarantees luck and success for the year ahead. That’s why shortly after Christmas, Italians flock to department stores and clothes shops across the country in order to get their hands on some “lucky” red underpants.

Pile of Broken Plates

For folks in the U.S., finding a smashed plate or glass at your door wouldn’t be pleasant. But people in Denmark welcome piles of smashed plates at their doors. The Danish have a tradition of throwing plates and glasses at friends’ and neighbors’ doors as a means of releasing aggression or ill-will behind. The bigger the pile of broken plates, the luckier you’ll be in the upcoming year.

Double Shot of Vodka

Russians love to party! So much so that they celebrate the New Year twice. Once on January 1st and then again on January 14th! Guess there “ain’t no party like a Russian party cause a Russian party don’t stop!”

Reference

• Bruk, D. (2020, December 31). This Is Why You Sing “Auld Lang Syne” on New Year’s Eve. Best Life. https://bestlifeonline.com/auld-lang-syne-new-years-eve/
• Byrne, S. (2017, December 26). New Year’s Eve/Day Fun Facts - Super Heat & Air. Super Heat & Air | Air Conditioning Repair, Installation & Service. https://superheatandair.com/new-years-fun-facts/
• How does America celebrate New Year? (2021, December 17). USA Property Guides. https://www.propertyguides.com/usa/news/how-does-america-celebrate-new-year/
• Mancini, M. (2020, December 31). New Year’s Eve Facts. Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/610519/new-years-eve-facts
• Markard, T. (2021, December 30). From drinking ashes to wear red undies: New Year’s Eve traditions from around the world. Greeley Tribune. https://www.greeleytribune.com/2021/12/30/from-drinking-ashes-to-wear-red-undies-new-years-eve-traditions-from-around-the-world/
• Web, A. (2020, December 30). The History of Auld Lang Syne and Why We Sing It at New Year’s. AESU. https://www.aesu.com/blog/the-history-of-auld-lang-syne-and-why-we-sing-it-at-new-years/