It's New Year's Eve, and Americans, like most people worldwide, are preparing to celebrate the arrival of 2025. In Sydney, Australia, they've already welcomed 2025 with a bang, lighting up Sydney Harbor with a spectacular fireworks display.
Australia Rings in 2025 with fireworks light up the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House during the early New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney. pic.twitter.com/zK0MMwsEUw
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) December 31, 2024
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people will pack into Times Square to watch a crystal ball drop to mark the arrival of the new year, and millions more will watch on TV. The 'Ball Drop' has been a New York tradition since 1907.
Each year, thousands of people pack Times Square to watch the crystal ball slowly descend a pole marking the New Year—a beloved tradition that began on this day in 1907. https://t.co/8fLRrkwcRn pic.twitter.com/EOww2uVOf5
— Smithsonian Magazine (@SmithsonianMag) December 31, 2024
Like most holidays, we observe traditional celebrations at the New Year. Some traditions passed down through generations have become universal, such as a champagne toast and a kiss from a loved one at the stroke of midnight. Others are more unique, and we thought it might be fun to take a look at where some of our New Year's traditions come from.
Here are a few of the more interesting things we found.
A number of towns and cities across the US do a 'Ball Drop' similar to New York City. But in Port Clinton, Ohio, they don't have a crystal ball to drop at midnight. Around seven thousand people will gather in the small town on the shores of Lake Erie, and as midnight approaches, they will drop a fish.
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A 600-pound fiberglass Walleye, to be exact.
Dropping it like it’s hot: Ohio communities make the New Year’s tradition their own https://t.co/7ZCg6xPv3W
— Bill Rinehart (@BillGRinehart) December 31, 2024
A 600-pounder would make for one heck of a fish fry, and Lake Erie is known for having some of the best Walleye fishing in the country. We think the folks in Port Clinton have represented their community well.
This brings us to the food. No matter where our holiday traditions come from, we Americans love to eat. From chocolate and romantic dinners on Valentine's Day to cookouts on Memorial, Independence, and Labor Day, Turkey and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, cookies, and traditional meals like the Feast of Seven Fishes at Christmas, in America, the food makes the holiday, and New Year's Day is no exception.
A New Year’s tradition
— Petecastic (@PeteCastic) December 31, 2024
Sauerkraut and kielbasa pic.twitter.com/DPTXFLtrLp
Pork and sauerkraut come from European areas like Germany and Poland. Foods harvested in autumn had to be preserved to make it through the harsh winters. Cabbage and other ingredients would be put into clay pots and buried to ferment. When it was time to prepare the meal, a pot of sauerkraut would literally be dug up from the ground and served with pork.
Another less-known or perhaps intentionally forgotten tradition from Poland is the pickled herring.
I’ve never had gefilte fish, but I quite like pickled herring from Eastern Europe.👍
— Michael🇺🇦🇮🇱Fitzgibbon (@FitzDrum) December 30, 2024
There’s a dish in Ukraine called “shuba” that uses pickled herring w/ shredded carrots and beets in sour cream & mayo dressing. It’s fab! We used to have it as part of New Year’s feast. https://t.co/gw4dpMfG4b pic.twitter.com/jm21SWkvtr
At least the 'Shuba' hides the fish with other ingredients. That wasn't the case for our dear Polish grandmother. She opened that jar and passed it around the table. Everyone took a piece of herring and passed the jar. We were to eat it simultaneously for good luck and prosperity. As a child, this tradition was terrifying. Dinner couldn't be served until everyone ate the fish. It made for some tense moments over the years.
As much as we may have despised the fish, the tradition meant something to our grandmother. Her mother had grown up in Poland before World War I when refrigerators were not common, and there was little to no access to seafood. What little could be found was salted, pickled, or otherwise preserved, and it was considered a delicacy. To be able to find and afford even a small jar of pickled herring for New Year's Day represented the ability to provide for your family, even in the toughest of times. So we ate the fish and, to honor Grandma, continue to do so today.
For the record, our kids despise it as much as we did.
Poland isn't the only country that uses herring in traditional celebrations. We found this from Germany.
German cookbook offering Bananas wrapped in pickled herring
— vintage.stuff (@vintagestuff4) December 25, 2024
1963 pic.twitter.com/l7JqQMagFf
Straight out of the jar might not be so bad after all.
If you grew up in the South, you were probably lucky enough to avoid the pickled herring and instead would eat blackeyed peas and collard greens.
Got my blackeyed peas on slow simmer for New Years! Just added cajun spice! 😋 ☺️ pic.twitter.com/PXRCMe48U6
— Mary T (@only_organics_1) December 31, 2024
The peas are said to represent coins, and collards represent paper money. Eating them at New Year's is supposed to bring you luck and prosperity.
Get a double helpin' of collards and blackeyed peas, y'all. Gotta push back HARD in 2025 and whatnot.
— George Wallace (@MrGeorgeWallace) December 31, 2024
Blackeyed peas were said to be fed to captives on ships as they were being transported to a life of slavery. Collared greens were also a common staple of African slaves that were brought to America. Eating these today is as much a reminder of humble beginnings as it is hope for the future.
Spain, via Latin America, has given us the tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight. One grape to bring luck in each month of the year.
There's a catch.
Twelve Grapes at Midnight is a #NewYearsEve tradition in Spain. 🇪🇸
— Retro Highway (@RetroHighway) December 31, 2024
The grapes are eaten one by one in the minute just after midnight.
Each grape symbolizes a month of the New Year and the tradition brings luck. Will you do it on #NewYearsEve2024? pic.twitter.com/tZMAh5n5ke
Speed eating grapes at midnight? Seems like it could be a bit dangerous, especially if you've had a cocktail or two. Should you fail to finish all twelve grapes, you may be cursed with bad luck for the entire year.
Good luck!
We did find some interesting traditions that didn't include food.
In Ireland, the front door is opened at midnight to let the old year out and the new year in.
On New Years Eve, an old Irish tradition is to open your door at midnight and let the Old Year Out and the New Year In.
— Julian Khan (@juliankhan) December 31, 2024
I think 2024 deserves the doors, windows, and garage doors to be open. pic.twitter.com/t4ANmshiwe
It is also a tradition to sleep with a piece of mistletoe under your pillow on the first night of the year. It is believed that your true love will come to you in your dreams. You then burn the mistletoe when you wake up on New Year's Day to bring that person to you during the upcoming year.
In Peru, there is a Festivus-style 'Airing of grievances' during a festival held between Christmas and New Year's. The 'Holiday Smackdown' predates the Spanish. Bare-knuckled fights are held during the festivities to settle disagreements and start the new year with a clean slate.
Leave behind past grudges this new year? Or would you like to welcome it with a punch as some do at this festival in Peru? pic.twitter.com/VLWcYp95Bu
— DW News (@dwnews) December 30, 2024
They are much less aggressive in Switzerland, where they literally ring in the new year with the centuries-old custom of Silvesterchläuse.
Men in outrageous costumes adorned with large bells walk through Swiss villages, yodeling and ringing the bells as they walk. Spectators often offer the performers sips of mulled wine.
The Swiss tradition of Silvesterchläuse in the canton of Appenzell celebrates New Year’s Eve twice, on December 31 and January 13.
— TheForgotThings (@TheForgotthings) December 25, 2024
pic.twitter.com/QiRAF1E3pf
No matter what you eat or how you celebrate, we wish each of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2025.
Happy New Year.
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