{"id":2570,"date":"2012-12-29T16:07:51","date_gmt":"2012-12-29T20:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/?p=2570"},"modified":"2025-09-19T11:14:24","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T15:14:24","slug":"ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Ringing in the New Year Around the World"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
Though some cultures celebrate the <\/span>New Year <\/a>in late winter or early spring, most nations celebrate January 1<\/span>st<\/sup> as the first day of the New Year. You can thank Emperor Julius Caesar, since January was named after the two faced Roman God Janus, and Caesar felt this symbolized <\/span>transition from one year to the next<\/a>.\u00a0William the Conqueror also wanted January 1<\/span>st<\/sup> to mark the New Year, as it coincided with his coronation, but it wasn\u2019t until 1582 that Pope Gregory established the modern Gregorian calendar, and January 1<\/span>st<\/sup> took firm root as the mark of the New Year.<\/span><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Which brings us to the question of how to celebrate! Sure, you could freeze your tail off with thousand of other revelers in New York\u2019s Times Square<\/a>, or curl up at home in your pajamas and observe the traditional ball drop on TV.\u00a0 But if you want to shake up your holiday traditions, here are a few ideas from around the world!<\/p>\n

Those fun-loving Scots call New Years Eve Hogomanay<\/a>,<\/strong> or Night of the Candle. They clean their homes (not fun!), eat traditional foods such as Haggis (questionable fun?) and drink whiskey and wine (now that\u2019s better!) and hope that the \u201cFirst Footer\u201d to come through their doorway after midnight is a handsome dark haired man bearing gifts to symbolize a coming pleasant year ( who can argue with that?) Often a straw figure known as the \u201cAuld Wife\u201d or a barrel of tar is set on fire to symbolize the end of the old year. And of course people gather to sing the traditional New Year song Auld Lang Syne<\/a>, which as you may have guessed, originated in Scotland.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t feel like wearing your woolies? Head to Brazil! Pack your bathing suit, because January is summertime in Brazil, and Vespera de Ano Novo is often celebrated at the beach, where people gather to offer flowers and gifts to Iemanja, the Goddess of Water. Floating candles and revelers wearing white add to the beauty of the landscape. Brazilian fishermen believe the New Year\u2019s catch portends the fortune for the rest of the year. But don\u2019t worry if you\u2019re not a fish person, as the traditional holiday fare is lentils and rice, along with a tapioca dish called Farofa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After a month of Bonenkai (\u201cforget the year\u201d) parties to bid goodbye to the year and all its problems, folks in Japan<\/a> are ready to forgive grudges, and houses are scrubbed (again with the cleaning!?!) in preparation for the new beginning. New Years is considered the most important holiday of the year. Buckwheat soba noodles are served to symbolize longevity, homes are decorated with ornaments made from bamboo and plum trees, and a visit to a shrine such as Tokyo\u2019s Meijii Jingu is in order. At midnight on December 31st<\/sup> Buddhist temples bang their gongs 108 times to expel 108 types of human weakness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though some cultures celebrate the New Year in late winter or early spring, most nations celebrate January 1st as the first day of the New Year. You can thank Emperor Julius Caesar, since January was named after the two faced Roman God Janus, and Caesar felt this symbolized transition from one year to the next.\u00a0William […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[678,729],"tags":[524,559],"yoast_head":"\nRinging in the New Year Around the World | PSF Travel Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"People celebrate the New Year in all kinds of ways. Maybe you'd like to spend your next New Year a little differently? Here's some inspiration...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ringing in the New Year Around the World | PSF Travel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People celebrate the New Year in all kinds of ways. Maybe you'd like to spend your next New Year a little differently? Here's some inspiration...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ParkSleepFly.com Travel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-29T20:07:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-19T15:14:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ParkSleepFly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ParkSleepFly\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/\",\"name\":\"Ringing in the New Year Around the World | PSF Travel Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-29T20:07:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-19T15:14:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5ef383979302b05b81981a31b395fb42\"},\"description\":\"People celebrate the New Year in all kinds of ways. Maybe you'd like to spend your next New Year a little differently? Here's some inspiration...\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"ParkSleepFly.com Travel Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5ef383979302b05b81981a31b395fb42\",\"name\":\"ParkSleepFly\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7fde1e7209956b4fc91d1cf0d1330e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7fde1e7209956b4fc91d1cf0d1330e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ParkSleepFly\"},\"description\":\"ParkSleepFly.com brings you the essential travel news and deals. You can keep up through our email newsletter and social channels.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/author\/parksleepfly\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ringing in the New Year Around the World | PSF Travel Blog","description":"People celebrate the New Year in all kinds of ways. Maybe you'd like to spend your next New Year a little differently? Here's some inspiration...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ringing in the New Year Around the World | PSF Travel Blog","og_description":"People celebrate the New Year in all kinds of ways. Maybe you'd like to spend your next New Year a little differently? Here's some inspiration...","og_url":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/","og_site_name":"ParkSleepFly.com Travel Blog","article_published_time":"2012-12-29T20:07:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-19T15:14:24+00:00","author":"ParkSleepFly","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"ParkSleepFly","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/","url":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/","name":"Ringing in the New Year Around the World | PSF Travel Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-29T20:07:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-19T15:14:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5ef383979302b05b81981a31b395fb42"},"description":"People celebrate the New Year in all kinds of ways. Maybe you'd like to spend your next New Year a little differently? Here's some inspiration...","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/ringing-in-the-new-year-around-the-world\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/","name":"ParkSleepFly.com Travel Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5ef383979302b05b81981a31b395fb42","name":"ParkSleepFly","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7fde1e7209956b4fc91d1cf0d1330e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a7fde1e7209956b4fc91d1cf0d1330e8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ParkSleepFly"},"description":"ParkSleepFly.com brings you the essential travel news and deals. You can keep up through our email newsletter and social channels.","url":"https:\/\/parksleepfly.com\/blog\/author\/parksleepfly\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2570"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10081,"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2570\/revisions\/10081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogadmin.parksleepfly.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}