New Year’s Traditions in Different Countries

Spain
12 grapes
The popular tradition involves eating 12 grapes as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. Each grape represents good luck for one month of the coming year. In big cities, people gather in main squares to eat their grapes together.

Japan
kadomatsu
A ‘kadomatsu’ is made of pine branches, bamboo, and plum twigs. It symbolizes good luck and is believed to help welcome good spirits into the home.

Turkey
salt on the doorstep
it's considered good luck to sprinkle salt on your doorstep as soon as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve.

Brazil
white flowers
Every year thousands of Brazilians throw white flowers into the ocean as an offering to the Goddess of the Sea in the hope that she’ll make their wishes for the next year come true.

Denmark
Broken dishes
It's a Danish tradition to throw china at your friends' and neighbors' front doors on New Year's Eve. It is said that the bigger your pile of broken dishes, the more luck you will have in the upcoming year.

South Korea
Sunrise festivals
lots of seaside towns hold ‘sunrise festivals’, where people gather and watch the first sunrise of the New Year. It is believed that anyone who makes a wish at sunrise will have their wish come true.