New Year’s is a holiday with many traditions and superstitions. With the earliest known record of the holiday dating back to 2000 BCE, it appears to have started on the day of the first new moon after the spring equinox.
Since then, the start of the new year is January 1st- thanks to Julius Caesar and Pope Gregory XIII-, and has been welcomed by fireworks, kissing, ball drops, wave jumping, and many other traditional actions.
However, some cultures celebrate their new year on a date other than January 1st. These festive days are either lunar or religious in nature
NHS sophomore Lily Caston, celebrates the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah, which takes place in early October most years. The Islamic new year, or Hijri, takes place on June 25-26.
Chinese New Year is on January 29th this year.
Many cultures have taken to eating ‘lucky’ foods to count down until midnight. Spain, Portugal, and a large portion of Latin Americans eat 12 grapes or raisins. Italians, however, eat 12 spoonfuls of lentils.
In Mexico, tamales are a common New Year's dish. Tamales are corn dough stuffed with meat, cheese, wrapped in corn husks. Not only are they delicious food, they are a symbol of family and love, and are often made by a large group of people.
Austrians are known to waltz when the clock strikes midnight, a tradition started in Vienna in the late 18th century.
“My family waltzes at 6pm eastern time, because then it's midnight in Vienna,” NHS sophomore Sierra Marx said.
The iconic Times Square Ball Drop, a widely televised event, is watched by over a million people worldwide, and another million in person. Started in 1907, it has just grown more popular over the years.
“I usually go to someone’s house and watch the ball drop,” NHS sophomore Brady Wennerholm said.
However, New York is not the only state that drops a ball on New Year’s. Many towns across America have dropped an object in honor of the new year, including disco balls, peaches, and even stuffed muskrats.
In the town of Princess Anne, Maryland, the unusual stuffed animal named Marshall P. Muskrat, wears a top hat and bow tie, and drops from a 30 foot pole at midnight, after rolling in on a zip line.
"We have thousands of muskrats that live here and we like to celebrate those things that are kinda specific to Somerset County and the Eastern Shore,” Carrie Samis, the event organizer, told WBOC in a 2018 article.
The tradition started in 2011 and has grown into a well received town event, with free horse and carriage rides and food.
Fireworks are a more common and well known New Years tradition, and have been involved in New Year’s since ancient China. People saw them as a way to ward off evil spirits and clean the air before the New Years, and they have only grown bigger in popularity since then.
Fireworks are set off around the world, in major cities such as London, Hong Kong, Paris, and Rio De Janeiro. They are seen as a symbol of tradition, community, and celebration, all core values of New Years for many.
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