From bright-colored undies to throwing things out the window and plates into doors

Dec 30, 2013 23:36 GMT  ·  By

In order to celebrate the year that passed and to embrace the new one, people from all over the world have been keeping a strong grasp to some unusual traditions. Some symbolize the beginning of a new phase in one's life and the passing of another, or are kept in an attempt to bring good luck into the new year.

What all of these customs and beliefs have in common is the fact that New Year’s Eve is the time to change, to break loose from the past and embrace a new future. Many believe that this particular night is the moment that can influence the whole year, and if one respects the traditions gathered in centuries by ancestors, one can actually influence the future.

Some traditions rely on wardrobe and on the fact that particular clothing can actually bring good luck and joy to the one wearing them. In the Philippines, people believe that wearing Polka dots and eating round fruit is a way of bringing luck upon people for an entire year, notes 123 New Year.

In Mexico, it is believed that colorful underwear will secure one's happiness for the whole 12 months to come. The color one is wearing is also important in Argentina, where you have to wear bright pink underwear to attract love in the next year, and in Brazil it is advised to wear white to scare away bad spirits.

Another popular tradition encountered in most parts of the world involves throwing things out the window. In Johannesburg, people gather to the windows at midnight and throw everything from furniture to microwaves and even entire beds from tall buildings into the streets.

Similar to the African tradition, in Denmark people start smashing plates into their friends' doors to show loyalty and integrity. The more objects are broken, the bigger the joy.

Setting fire to things is also a very popular tradition symbolizing the process of letting go to the past. In Ecuador, people gather outside their homes and set fire to portraits or photos that remind them of inglorious days. In Edinburgh, Scotland, locals dress like vikings and parade the streets with burning torches in their hands to cast away evil spirits. While in Panama, effigies of popular individuals are built and then burned on bonfires to banish bad spirits.

Animals have been used as signs to predict events that can happen in the year to come and in Romania, people believe that at midnight animals are given the gift of speech. One must listen to animals and if they talk, that means the year to come will be filled with bad luck, but if they don't, they can expect the best from the future.

Another bizarre custom involves paying respect to the dead and gathering into cemeteries in the middle of the night to welcome the New Year close to the dead relatives. The unique tradition is found in a small town in Chile where people flood cemeteries to celebrate and remember the dead with classical music and lit candles.

Siberia has its own weird and extreme tradition as people celebrate the New Year by bathing in freezing waters. They cut a hole in the Lake Baikal's covering ice and dive to the bottom holding an evergreen. The extreme bath is also popular in Scotland with courageous individuals stripping from their clothes and plunging into a freezing river.

Superstitious or not, people from all over the world have been trying to step into the New Year with optimism and faith, believing it will be better than the one that passed. No one can guarantee that one tradition is better than another, but to make sure one can try a combination of them and see if it proves to actually work.