New Year 2020: From 'dressing like bear' to 'eating grapes', traditions people follow

The last day of 2019 is finally here and celebrations all over the world are underway with people celebrating in their own traditional style. New Year celebrations at the end of the year have been going on for about 1,000 years now and people from across the globe celebrate it differently. Let's look at some common and some very unusual traditional style of celebrating New Year. 

5 New Year traditions from across the globe

There are lights and food everywhere at this time of the year but in China, they pay more attention to the fireworks as part of the celebration. Fireworks are an integral part of many New Year celebrations around the world and so does in China. China observes Lunar New Year at the end of January and they do it with a lot of fireworks that are enough to tear apart your eardrums. The noise created by fireworks is believed to scare off evil spirits and misfortune. 

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In Brazil and Mexico, the colour of your underwear will determine how great your next year is going to be. People in some Latin American countries celebrate New Year with different colours of underwear, depends on what they want in the coming year. The colour yellow signifies wealth and prosperity, red brings love while white will bring peace and harmony. And if you want good health and wellbeing for the New Year, wear green colour underwear. 

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In Ireland, when people find it difficult to find the love of their life they use mistletoe to reignite the romance they have been looking for. Single people looking to meet their match place sprig of mistletoe under their pillow. The long-standing tradition states that people will dream of their future partner if the mistletoe is placed under their pillow on the eve of New Year. 

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People in Romania dress like a bear while celebrating the New Year. People even wear real bearskins and furs to celebrate the upcoming year. People dress as bear and dance from one house to another in an attempt to keep the evil spirits away. The tradition is known as "ursul" in Romania and reportedly originated up to 2,000 years ago. 

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People in Spain celebrate New Year by eating twelve grapes. The tradition is to eat twelve grapes one by one with each toll of the clock striking midninght. Each grape represents a month of the year and it is believed that it will bring 12 months of good luck if you gobble the bunch before the New Year starts. The tradition is celebrated in other Spanish speaking countries as well.