When it comes to celebrating festivals, us Homo sapiens can go to unprecedented levels and try some of the wackiest and weirdest practices by justifying them as age old traditions. Well, so is the case when it comes to celebrating the year’s last eve, the night of December 31st! While most of us just like casual partying, there are some groups and tribes which go beyond the usual. Here are some of the most unusual New Year traditions around the world!
1) Colored underwear: What, colored underwear? Yes! So is the case in Mexico and Brazil, where people wear colorful underwear and panties on the New Year’s Eve. The tradition goes on when one wears the color designated for a specific purpose. For example, if you want to find love in the next year, you will probably wear red underclothes, on the other hand, if you want to get richer, you wear a yellow one.
2) Burning popular celebrities and politicians: Scared, are you? Well, don’t be since in Panama people only burn the effigies of popular celebrities and politicians on the New Year’s Eve. The effigies are locally known as muñecos and are burnt on bonfires.
3) Wishing cows: Do you think that livestock is taken care of only in India? Well, if you do think so, then you’re probably wrong, since in Belgium farmers make it a point to wish their cows a Happy New Year. The case probably is that farmers, in order to make their cows produce more milk during the next year try to appease them; by what? Just by wishing them a Happy New Year.
4) Sleepover in a cemetery: Cemeteries worldwide have been known to be the place of the dead. But in Chile they become place for the living human being when the night of the New Year arrives. Families in Chile are much happier by sleeping next to their deceased loved ones rather than by partying and enjoying in a local club or bar on the 31st night!
5) Jumping into the jaws of cold: Nothing more can be expected out of Russians on the New Year’s Eve when some of the local groups of Siberia consume lots and lots of Vodka and jump into frozen lakes carrying a somewhat unusual thing, a tree trunk.
Howsoever weird these traditions might look; they carry a tinge of innocence and remind us that deep down we are a people who still love to have fun in a world dominated by war.
Cheers! Wishing you a very Happy New Year.
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