Hey, New Year’s Folks!
Congratulations! We did it! We made it to the end of 2021. Tonight we stand on the horizon and look out to the next one. We celebrate by staying awake until the new year arrives at midnight tonight. What you do in those late hours before twelve o’ clock strikes is up to you and the people you’re celebrating with. Here’s a look at a few different ways people celebrate.
The Weird Ways
In Finland, they burn metal in a pan for a ritual called ‘molybdomancy’. They inspect the shadows the metal casts by candlelight as they believe the shapes to predict the future. Ecuadorians will burn paper-filled scarecrows. The Swiss drop ice cream on the floor. Siberians plunge into frozen lakes while carrying a tree trunk. In Mexico, many eat a dozen grapes at midnight to bring themselves good luck in the coming 12 months.
Alotta ‘Fetti
Instead of ice cream, we like to drop lots of shredded paper on the ground—paper that’s super colorful and glittered. We like it so much that we drop 2,000 pounds of it in Times Square each year! It must be quite a sight to see for everyone there and tuning in on television, but can you imagine cleaning up all that celebratory mess?!
The ball drop is over 100 years old
A classy space around town known as One Times Square back in the day, its first New Year’s Eve ball drop was on December 31, 1907. Since then, it’s come gliding down each year (aside from a couple years while World War II was happening). Nowadays, over a million people flock to watch every December.
Be sure you enjoy yourself this New Year’s Eve and enjoy the last of your days off before your winter break is over. Happy New Year once again and, as always, thanks for reading.
- John