• A 'New Year' arrives, along with a list of traditions

    Philippe Huguen / AFP - Getty Images

    People carry a man on a stretcher as they take part in a traditional sea bath during New Year's celebrations on Jan. 1, 2011 at Malo-Les-Bains beach in Dunkirk, France.

    By Natalia Jimenez, NBC News

    New Year's Day quickly approaches and with it the pressure to make this coming one the best year ever. We all have different traditions we believe will help us achieve this goal. Some more than others. My family comes from Peru, where there is a long list of essential New Year's customs that are guaranteed to bring you health, wealth, love, prosperity... you name it. This usually begins with the yellow underwear. Yellow is considered a lucky color that symbolizes hope and happiness. It is no coincidence that it is the same color as the Sun. By ringing in the new year while wearing yellow underwear you encourage good luck to come your way. You then proceed to:

    Slideshow: Good luck rituals for the new year

    Mariana Bazo / Reuters

    We may have different calendars, customs and beliefs, but most of us mark the arrival of a new year. Take a look at the ways cultures around the world celebrate and bring good luck for the year ahead.

    Launch slideshow

    • Collect 12 pennies (representing each month of the year) from different people, before midnight and place them in a small red bag along with a several grains of rice to ensure that you would have money and food throughout the next year.
    • Eat 12 grapes at the strike of midnight. (This is a tradition that originates in Spain and spread to most of Latin America - along with colonization)
    • Run out at midnight with a packed suitcase and go around the block (after you eat your grapes, of course!). This one is for those wanting to travel in the new year.
    • Throw a pair of old, worn out shoes dramatically out the window as a way of getting rid of the old year.

    While everyone has different ways of bringing in good luck, there are also some common themes that run through the various customs. Water is involved in several traditions. This can be attributed to the fact that water is associated with cleansing and rebirth. In Thailand, during the Songkran festival celebrating the New Year, complete strangers splash water on each other throughout the streets. While this is certainly aided by the fact that the Thai New Year takes place during the hottest time of the year, the tradition began with people pouring fragrant water on their Buddha images as a New Year cleansing. This "blessed" water was then gently poured over family members for good fortune.

    Noel Celis / AFP - Getty Images

    Roasted pigs at a store in Manila, Philippines on Dec. 23, 2010. Pork and ham are also a very popular New Year's food in Austria, Germany, and Sweden, among others. The pig is known for rooting forward for food with their snouts, and their feet planted. This is seen as a symbol of moving forward in the new year.

    During Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, people visit an open body of water to cast away their sins of the past year. Typically, the sins are represented by small pieces of food that are thrown into the water.

    One of the most popular water-related traditions is the New Year's plunge into icy water. In New York City's Coney Island, thousands gather on Jan. 1 to run into the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Polar Bear Club's yearly tradition. The same happens all over Europe.

    It can be said that most of these traditions ultimately are about getting rid of negativity and starting anew. Hence, the desire to scare away evil spirits through dragons and drum beats (Chinese New Year), dressing up in costumes (Switzerland), or fireballs (Scotland).

    To see what others do on New Year's see our slideshow: New Year's traditions around the world.

    What New Year's traditions will you be doing this year? Do you think it makes a difference? Leave your comments below.

     

  • Lantern makers prepare for Chinese New Year

    AP

    A man yawns as he makes red lanterns with other workers for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year at a workshop in Yaxi village, in Xianju county in east China's Zhejiang province, on Dec. 27, 2011.

    AP

    Workers carry red lanterns through a small lane outside a workshop in Yaxi village on Dec. 27, 2011.

    Chinese Lunar New Year will fall on January 23, 2012, marking the beginning of the Year of the Dragon.

  • Colorful celebrations mark Nepalese new year

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    People throw vermillion powder on one another to celebrate the Nepali New Year, lso known as "Sindoor Jatra" at Thimi, near Kathmandu, Nepal on April 15.

    Prakash Mathema / AFP - Getty Images

    Nepalese people sing and dance to traditional music and smear vermillion powder as they carry chariots of Hindu gods and goddesses during the Bisket Jatra festival in Thimi, in the outskirts of Kathmandu, on April 15. The traditional Bisket Jatra festival is celebrated during the Nepali New Year.

    Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

    People throw vermillion powder on one another and play traditional drums to celebrate the Nepali New Year in Kathmandu on April 15.

    Prakash Mathema / AFP - Getty Images

    Local residents watch as chariots pass during the Bisket Jatra festival in Thimi, in the outskirts of Kathmandu, on April 15.

     See more photos of Nepal on PhotoBlog.

  • Hindu New Year celebrated in Mumbai

    Sajjad Hussain / AFP - Getty Images

    Indian women dressed in traditional attire at a procession to celebrate 'Gudi Padwa' or the Maharashtrian new year in Mumbai on Monday, April 4. Gudi Padwa is the Hindu new year for the people of India's state of Maharashtra, that falls on the first day of the month of Chaitra according to the lunar calendar and is celebrated by dancing and singing on the occasion of Thanksgiving. This day marks the end of a harvest and the beginning of a new one, which for an agricultural community signifies the beginning of a New Year.

    Rajanish Kakade / AP

    People dressed in traditional attire dance during a procession to mark "Gudi Padwa," or Maharashtrian New Year, in Mumbai on Monday.

    Sajjad Hussain / AFP - Getty Images

    Indians watch a procession during celebrations of 'Gudi Padwa' or the Maharashtrian new year in Mumbai on Monday.

    Sajjad Hussain / AFP - Getty Images

    An Indian dressed up at a procession celebrates 'Gudi Padwa' or the Maharashtrian new year in Mumbai on Monday.

    By Elena Grothe

    AFP reports that 'Gudi Padwa,' or the Maharashtrian new year, is the Hindu new year for the people of India's state of Maharashtra, that falls on the first day of the month of Chaitra according to the lunar calendar and is celebrated by dancing and singing on the occasion of Thanksgiving. This day marks the end of a harvest and the beginning of a new one, which for an agricultural community signifies the beginning of a New Year.

  • Afghan New Year: VP calls on militants to lay down arms

    Ahmad Nazar / AP

    Afghans carry balloons to sell, as they walk towards the Sakhi Shrine on occasion of Nawroz, a new year ceremony, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, March 21.

    Massoud Hossaini / AFP - Getty Images

    Afghan horsemen compete for a goat carcass during a game of Buzkashi to celebrate Nowruz in Mazar-i Sharif, the center of Afghan New Year's or Nowruz celebrations, in northern Afghanistan on Monday. According to Getty, Nawroz, the festival to celebrate new year starts on March 21 which is being celebrated in Turkey, Central Asian republics, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan as well as war-torn Afghanistan and coincides with the astronomical vernal equinox. Hundereds of thousands Afghanistan's people gather from all around of the country in Mazar-i Sharif to celebrate new year.

    Musadeq Sadeq / AP

    Afghan women walk down of a mountain after watching the rising of holy mace outside the Sakhi Shrine on the occasion of Nawroz, a new year ceremony in Kabul on Monday.

    Dar Yasin / AP

    Aishya, an Afghan girl poses for picture on a mountain top on the occasion of Nawroz, the New Year ceremony, held at the Sakhi shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday.

    By Elena Grothe

    According to the AP, in a speech today marking the Afghan new year, Vice President Abdul Karim Khalili called on militants to lay down their weapons because the nation would never return to the days of hardline Taliban rule.

    Full story here. Slideshow here.

  • Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images

    An eight-year-old sea lion "Leo" writes the word "Rabbit" in Chinese characters as part of a New Year's attraction at the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise aquarium in Yokohama in Kanagawa prefecture, suburban Tokyo on Jan. 3. February 2011 will mark the start of the Year of the Rabbit according to the lunar calender a 12-year cycle followed by China and other parts of Asia.

    Sea lion participates in Year of the Rabbit attraction at Japanese aquarium

    Not bad for a sea lion!

  • Thomas Peter / Reuters

    Eileen Goede holds her newborn baby Timeo as she poses for the photographer in a hospital in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 1, 2011. Timeo was born on Jan. 1 at 11:11 AM, weighing just over seven pounds.

    Baby born at 11:11 on 1.1.11 in Germany

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    That was some excellent timing by Timeo to score such a nifty birthdate.

  • Icy plunges kick off the New Year for many around the world

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    Brrrrrrrrrrrr. Check out more New Year's images here.

    Tony Gentile / Reuters

    Marco Fois dives into the Tiber River from the Cavour bridge in Rome, Italy, as part of traditional New Year celebrations Jan. 1, 2011. Five men sprinkled the muddy water of the Tiber with sparkling wine before taking the plunge from the Cavour bridge, continuing an annual tradition which dates back to 1946.

    Michael Kooren / Reuters

    Thousands of people run towards the North Sea during the annual New Years Dive at Scheveningen, the Netherlands, Jan. 1, 2011.

    Gero Breloer / AP

    An ice swimmer of 'Seehunde Berlin' (translates to Berlin Seals) takes a dip in the frozen lake Orankesee in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011. Traditionally the ice swimmers welcome the New Year by taking a bath in the ice-cold water on New Year's Day.

    Matthew Diaz / AFP - Getty Images

    A member of the U.S. Air Force, assigned to ISAF Regional Command (South), reacts to the water temperature while participating in a "Polar Bear Plunge," in Kandahar on Jan. 1, 2011, held to celebrate the New Year. The event, hosted by the Dutch military contingency, brought together over 200 participants from various international military forces.

  • Office workers drench passersby to celebrate the New Year in Montevideo

    By Katie Cannon, Senior Multimedia Editor

    This is the first time I've really been bummed that our office windows don't open.

    Miguel Rojo / AFP - Getty Images

    Women throw water and foam to pedestrians, from an office building in Montevideo's old district on Dec. 31. Ripped pages from calendars and water from buckets or in balloons are typically launched from office windows in this neighbourood to celebrate the end of year.

    Miguel Rojo / AFP - Getty Images

    A security guard on the sidewalk is spashed with water from people at an office building in Montevideo's old district on Dec. 31.

    Miguel Rojo / AFP - Getty Images

    Men driving on an open vehicle are splashed with water coming from an office building in Montevideo's old district on Dec. 31.

  • Thousands in Edinburgh, Scotland welcome the New Year by burning a Viking ship

    By Carissa Ray

    In yesterday's post, linked here, we saw how Peruvian Shamans welcome the New Year with blessings. In Scotland, thousands gather to dress as Vikings and set things on fire. While the two rituals are quite different, and worlds apart, I'd say they both have their allure.

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    Men dressed as Vikings lead the torchlight procession as it makes its way along Princess Street for the start of the New Year celebrations on Dec. 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Thousands of people joined in the torchlight procession, followed by the burning of a Viking long ship.

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    Thousands gather for the torchlight procession in Edinburgh which starts the New Year celebrations on Dec. 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    Men dressed as Vikings watch fireworks on Calton Hill for the start of the New Year celebrations on Dec. 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Thousands of people joined in the torchlight procession, followed by the burning of a Viking long ship.

    Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images

    Revellers gather on Calton Hill for the start of the New Year celebrations on Dec. 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Thousands of people joined in a torchlight procession which was followed by the burning of a Viking long ship to kick off four days of events.

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