MyLifeWerks Insurance and our partner site MyFedRetirementWerks want to wish everyone a peaceful and prosperous 2019. Happy Holidays!
What is a New Year’s family tradition that is important to you? We found a few traditional and unique ones that your family might have adopted over the years or find interesting.
- Watch the count down on TV with friends and family
- On New Year’s Eve, kiss the person you hope to keep kissing.
- Italians let their church bells peal, the Swiss beat drums, and the North Americans sound sirens and party horns to bid the old year farewell.
- The tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight comes from Spain. Revelers stuff their mouths with 12 grapes in the final moments of the year—one grape for every chime of the clock!
- In the southern US, black-eyed peas and pork foretell good fortune.
- In Scotland—where Hogmanay is celebrated—people parade down the streets swinging balls of fire.
- In Swiss homes, dollops of whipped cream, symbolizing the richness of the year to come, are dropped on the floors—and allowed to remain there!
- In Holland, toasts are made with hot, spiced wine.
- Wassail, a punch-like drink named after the Gaelic term for “good health,” is served in some parts of England.
- Gifts of gilded nuts or coins marked the start of the new year in Rome.
- Eggs, the symbol of fertility, were exchanged by the Persians.
- Jews who observe Rosh Hashanah make time for personal introspection and prayer, as well as visiting graves.
- Christian churches hold “watch-night” services, a custom that began in 1770 at Old St. Georges Methodist Church in Philadelphia.
- The practice of making New Year’s resolutions, said to have begun with the Babylonians as early as 2600 B.C., is another way to reflect on the past and plan ahead.