For the New Year, even the greatest pragmatists have a bit of superstition. You wish a happy new year, pour lead and eat a lot of symbolic things. But why do you actually eat fish in China, long noodles in Japan or grapes in Spain? BILD shows you the funniest culinary New Year’s Eve customs.
And: Read about throwing pomegranate and bread on the shelf.
Lucky pig in Austria
Whether made from marzipan, as a cake or as suckling pig: pigs have always symbolized happiness and success in many cultures. Especially in Austria and Germany you can find pigs in all versions on greeting cards, firecrackers or sweets at this time of the year. It is not for nothing that we do not say “lucky”!
Lentils in Italy
Brazil and Hungary are also part of the annual lens movement. The small, flat, round legumes are mostly used in stews and represent a windfall for the coming year. By the way: the sausages or bacon usually come from pork, a – as I said – well-known New Year’s Eve good luck charm.
Fish in china
Many symbols and traditions in Chinese culture are based on puns. The word “Yu” (pronounced like “Jü”) can mean both “happy” and “fish”. That is why a steamed fish is traditionally served for the New Year. The scales are a symbol of money. By the way, the Chinese New Year usually takes place in January or February, but many Chinese also celebrate New Year’s Eve in December.
Steamed fish is always part of the Chinese New Year
Bread with coin in Armenia
Be careful, don’t bite your teeth! In Armenia, a flatbread called Darin, decorated with patterns and herbs, is traditionally baked for the New Year. The baker hides a coin or a walnut in the bread and whoever bites on it will be the lucky one for the coming year.
Pomegranate in Turkey
In both Turkey and Greece, it is a tradition to throw a pomegranate on the wall on New Year’s Day. The more seeds and juice that are thrown out on impact, the more luck you can hope for in the next year. So it’s no wonder that some of them do a few practice throws in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve!
Long noodle in Japan
The buckwheat noodles “Soba” are an integral part of many festivities in the land of the rising sun. But on New Years they are made especially long because they are supposed to bring a long life. “Toshikoshi Soba” is traditionally served only with a simple broth and spring onions.
Long soba noodles symbolize a long life in Japan
Three potatoes in Colombia
Colombia and Peru share a New Year’s tradition – and it has to do with potatoes. Take three of them, one peeled, one partially peeled and one unpeeled, and put them under the bed. Then reach out for them blindly and pull one out. Anyone who catches the unpeeled will be fine in the coming year. But the less peel on the apple, the more bad luck!
Twelve grapes in Spain
The twelve grapes, which are plastered one after the other in Spain, in the former Spanish colonies in Latin America and in the Philippines, represent the twelve months of the coming year. If you catch a bitter or sour grape, you should remember its number, because misfortune can happen that month.
Bread on the shelf in Belarus
The cold, dark winter of Belarus is less about bringing about happiness than about foreseeing misfortune and keeping it away. So here you take pieces of bread for each member of the family and place them on a shelf. The person whose piece of bread is missing the next morning could, in the worst case, give up the spoon in the following year.
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