It is time for a new blog topic, this time selected by Angie. You are required to share your thoughts, knowledge and experience about the different customs of New Year count down.
Angie would like you to read the following articles on this topic:
* time square New Year count down: http://www.timessquarenyc.org/index.html
* different New Year celebrations: http://www.mapsofworld.com/sponsor/123newyear.html
* the Chinese New Year: http://astrology.about.com/b/a/000007.htm
I consider this a very interesting topic, so I hope you will enjoy it yourselves.
As always, have fun and take care,
Kinga
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8 comments:
First off, I'm gonna start discussing about the traits and customs of Chinese New Year. As the countdown reaches its limit, Chinese all around the world will celebrate the upcoming of the New Year with a huge display of fireworks. Also, children will be seated in their relative's house as they wait in silence for the final seconds of the new year to surface. Obviously, everybody will be dressed up nicely as it is important for one to look presentable on the edge of the new year. Clothes with outstanding colors like red and yellow is a plus point as it signifies wealth and happiness for the remainder of the New Year. Around the vicinity of the household area, Chinese families will gather together and play with firecrackers as there was an ancient believe that noise from the cracking was used to scare a dragon that ate people a long time ago.
I thought I’d share with you how we in Austria celebrate New Year’s eve. Since most of you are from far away, I bet I can tell you something new. Of course, as anywhere else, fireworks are almost mandatory – there’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide all around the country. There are rockets in the air and noise everywhere. In downtown Vienna it’s the loudest. People come to scare each other with firecrackers, have fun, drink a lot and wait to scream the countdown from ten to zero. Who is not celebrating downtown will usually sit in a living room with some close friends and drink champagne, eat biscuits in forms of fish (you eat the tail first, so they can swim into the new year) and play some games. One very common tradition is to melt tin, then pour it into a bowl of water (to make it solid again) and then guess what the shape of the thing could mean to you. A last thought I have for you is that New Year’s eve in Austria is generally known by the name “Silvester”, because that’s the name of the patron of the day of December 31st.
Indonesia is one of many countries that has a multicultural population. Generally, everyone, with the rest of the world, will celebrate the new year countdown that happens on 12/31. But for Chinese and native Indonesian ethnic, they have another new year date to celebrate. As for Chinese people, they usually have Chinese new year that falls on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar (usually in January or February). Every house is usually cleaned up to welcome the new year. They will also buy new clothes and decorate their houses with bright colors, like red, and cut their hair. It is belived that they could prevent bad luck and receive more fortune in the new year. It is also their customs to have a dinner together with family and relatives. For native Indonesian ethnic, who are predominantly muslims, they have what they called 'Idul Fitri' to mark the new year. I don't really know their customs to celebrate new year countdown, since I don't celebrate the occasion. What I know is they usually attend a special prayer that is performed in congregation at mosques or open areas like fields or squares.The celebration of the new year itself has a great religious meaning, such as forgiveness, fellowship, and unity of the muslims.
New Year countdown is not that glorious in Istanbul as it is in Paris or New York. However, it is a lot of fun. For the countdown, many people go to a place called Nisantasi, something like 5th Avenue, and drink and dance together in the street. I tried that once but I did not enjoy it a lot, because it was too crowded. Others prefer to go to the clubs. I have celebrated New Years twice or three times at a club, and I think it is much more exciting than celebrating in the streets. In contrast, the best type of celebration of New Years for me is staying in, at my house or at my friend's house. That way, I only have the people I really like around me when I start a New Year. Another thing I like about New Years is that if you look outside at the beautiful Bosphorous, you can see the fireworks illuminating the amazing view.
People all over the world should be very excited about New Year. If I have to share about new year celebration in my home country, Indonesia, I would say it's festivity, but not as glorious as those in US. Still it's meaningful because it is a 'once in a year' event. We usually watch fireworks and count down for the coming year..
Then we do cheers to welcome the new year, the new luck for everyone. We also have a dinner with the big family..and that's really a fun event to meet all the members of the family. Although now I can celebrate a more glorious new year in US, still I miss the family dinner.
A new year marks the beginning of a new cycle of 365 days. Most western countries follow the modern day english calendar, but there are countries that celebrate more than one neew year. For example, I am from India. In India we celebrate December 31 as new years eve, go to events, parties or simple get togethers with friends, have fun and countdown to 12 am and wish eachother. There are fireworks, alcohol everywhere,and cakes are cut.
On the other hand, India is a country of many religions and many sub cultures. My sub culture is that i am Telugu. And we the Telugu people celebrated our new year recently on the 20th of March. On that day, we have traditional rituals of prayer and family and friends get together for a pure vegetarian meal, new clothes are worn and many other trivial details which i don't seem to recollect now.
Apart from these two major new years for me, i still enjoy the sub cultural new years of my friends.
For new years in Guatemala, we go to the beach " el puerto " and have a great time. New Years is not considered a "family" event. Christmas is family oriented but new years is a time to party and be with your friends. Normally there are huge parties in different places around the beach and a lot is going on. Sometimes they show a huge amount of fireworks and wait to count down from 10. New Years is probably the best holiday to be in Guatemala. We have a great time. For the party, everyone dresses nicely and you have to bring your own alcohol. They just provide the food. If you are no in the beach then you are probably back in the city with family or close friends in a living room drinking some champagne. We dont have any permanent or nationally known traditions or events for new years. Just have a good time...
In Korea, we give celebrate both on the Chinese New Year and on January 1st. On Janauary first, we do the counting stuff as the United States does. We ring a bell on the midnight of January 1st by a meaning of notice of a new year. Also, we think watching a sunrise on the January 1st makes meaningful.
On the Chinese New Year, Koreans visit their relatives and parents or they gather around in one house in ordert to say "Happy New Year" and wish each other good luck on everything they do on a new year.
For me, enjoying two New Year's days is really awesome by a means to get more closer to my relatives and friends by celebrating it twice.
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