Weird New Year's Traditions

You may think that there are some weird New Year's traditions and celebrations in the United States, especially if you spend New Year's Eve in Time's Square. But some of the weird and strange traditions around the world will have you scratching your head, trying to figure out the significance or what people were thinking. Here are some weird New Year's traditions.

1) The first weird New Year's tradition comes from South America. I have a friend who has been in the United States for a number of years, but she has told me about a tradition in her county on New Years Eve. It all related to yellow underwear! It doesn't matter what type of yellow underwear, it just has to be yellow. You are supposed to buy a pair and right after midnight, run and change into your new yellow underwear. I'm not sure what the point is, but wearing yellow underwear on New Year's Day supposedly brings you good luck. I think this qualifies as a weird New Year's Tradition. http://yearinbolivia.blogspot.com/2008/01/strange-new-years-eve-traditions.html)

2) The next weird New Year's Tradition has to do with polar bears. I have a friend who has been a part of what is called Polar Bear Diving. It doesn't matter when on New Year's you do it, but the closer to midnight the better. The person doing the diving is supposed to jump into the nearest, coldest body of water. You have the option of being clothed or not. Again, this weird New Year's Tradition is suppose to bring you better luck during the New Year. I'm thinking all you'll end up with is a bad cold

3) The third weird New Year's tradition takes place in a small Chilean city of Talca. In Talca, it has become a tradition to go to your relatives graves at midnight. After the evening mass, many family members will travel to the graveyard, set up chairs and sit and bring in the New Years with the deceased. Supposedly this has been occurring since 1995, when the first family began this practice. i suppose this weird New Year's Tradition is meant to include your deceased loved ones in the celebration. (http://blog.hotelclub.com/weird-new-years-traditions-from-around-the-world).

4) Our next weird New Year's tradition takes place in Germany. Supposedly, in many German towns, family members wait until midnight and watch a movie called Dinner for One. This is a movie, once a play, about a British Lady that sets up a table every year for her birthday for four guests, who all have been dead for years. No one is sure how this tradition began, but my brother in law was stationed in Germany for a few years in the Army, and he verifies that this actually occurs. He was in a pub one year to bring in New Years, and the bar tender put the movie in the VCR and he rang in the New Year's with this weird tradition.

5) We have our own weird New Year's traditions here in the United States. Who ever told us to throw salt over our shoulders on New Years to bring good luck or to empty all of our laundry baskets, or that leaving a Christmas Tree up past New Years was bad luck., Countless Americans will also eat black eyed peas, and greens to represent luck and money. But probably the weirdest tradition we have here in the south is eating hog jowl. I myself, pass that one up.

Whatever your New Year's Eve Tradition, it is never too late to create your own. Who knows, maybe you could invent the next weird and strange New Year's Eve Tradition.