A Brazilian New Year

Filed in archive Latin Culture , Latin Holidays on December 30, 2006

Brazilians have many traditions for New Year's Eve. Each state and region have its own, but many are followed in the entire country. Everybody does these little things to ask for happiness, prosperity, health, love and protection for the next year.

Most of them come from the African slaves and their religious beliefs, which are still alive today in Brazil. The Candomblé - religion brought from Africa by the slaves - it's widely practiced, although not in its original form. The syncretism between Candomblé and Christianism (specially Catholicism) made its traditions very popular.

Let me share some of them with you, and maybe you'll try one or two. 'Cause, attracting a little good luck wouldn't hurt, would it?

- Go to the beach and jump over seven little waves, at midnight, making seven wishes while you jump;

- Wear white clothes, as a symbol of Light, Purity and Kindness;

- Wear new underwear. The color varies according to your goals - white for peace, pink for love, yellow for prosperity, green for harmony;

- Eat a pomegranate (symbol of prosperity and wealth) at midnight. Take 7 seeds out of it and keep them on your wallet until the next New Year's Eve. This assures you'll always have money on your wallet.

- On New Year's Eve (as in Christmas Eve), it's traditional to have a late dinner, around 11:00 PM. We call it "New Year's Supper" - Ceia de Ano-Novo - and it's common to eat lentils as a side dish, to assure prosperity and abundance for the New Year.

- Keeping the cork of the bottle of champagne (that's usually open by midnight) brings good luck for the keeper.

So, which one of those are you going to try? Do you have your own traditions? Would you like to share them? Leave a comment... And good luck to us all, in the next year!