My Books!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

More New Year's Traditions

Hello, readers.  Violet McCallum here.  Elaine told my story in her book A New Dream which just happens to be on sale for .99.  The sale ends in a few days so get it now at either Amazon or Barnes and Noble. 

Today I’ll continue with New Year’s traditions around the world.  Did you know that The Republic of Kiribati is the first country to receive the new year? Kiribati is the first place to see the sun rise. 

In Russia, the New Year holiday trumps even Christmas in importance, and major celebrations take place all over the country. There is also a second New Year in Russia – the Old New Year which takes place after the regular New Year.  New Year celebrations in Russia occur on December 31st/January 1st. Fireworks and concerts mark this holiday. It is on this day that the Russian Santa, or Ded Moroz, and his companion Sengurochka visit children to pass out gifts. What we’d call a Christmas Tree is called a New Year's Tree in Russia. Because the first Russian New Year precedes Christmas in Russia on January 7, this tree is left up in honor of both holidays.

Russians have a second chance to celebrate the New Year which falls on January 14th according to the old Orthodox calendar. This “Old New Year” (Старый Новый год) is spent with family and is generally quieter than the New Year celebrated on January 1st. People follow old folk customs like singing carols and telling fortunes, and they serve large meals.

In Spain, when the clock strikes midnight, they eat 12 grapes one with every toll to bring good luck for the next 12 months of the New Year. Sometimes they wash down the grapes with wine. Theater productions and movies are interrupted to carry out this custom.  Now you know why I put a picture of grapes on this post.

Readers, please come back tomorrow and I’ll share a great recipe that you'll want to try for your own celebration.

11 comments:

  1. Spot on with this write-up, I really think this website needs

    much more consideration. I’ll in all probability be once

    more to read rather more, thanks for that info.
    My page > http://www.thespainforum.com/f286/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Valuable information. Lucky me I found your website by
    accident, and I am shocked why this

    accident did not happened earlier! I bookmarked
    it.
    Also visit my webpage : pcnb.ca

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good write-up, I am regular visitor of one’s website, maintain up the

    excellent operate, and It is going to be a regular visitor
    for a long time.
    My site ; Sanlucar de Barrameda,

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey! I could have sworn I've been to this website

    before but after reading through some of the post I realized it's new to me.


    Anyhow, I'm definitely delighted I found it and I'll be bookmarking and checking back often!
    Feel free to surf my web page trucknews.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. When I initially commented I clicked the "Notify me when new comments are added" checkbox and now each time
    a

    comment is added I get three emails with the same comment.
    Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Appreciate it!
    Feel free to visit my page ... spain segunda Division grupo iv table

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this web site.

    Thank you, I will try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your site?
    Take a look at my web site ... spain bond yields hit euro-era high

    ReplyDelete
  7. Howdy! This post could not be written any better!



    Reading this post reminds me of my previous room mate!

    He always kept talking

    about this. I will forward this page to him.

    Fairly certain he will have a good read.

    Thank you for sharing!
    Also visit my homepage - spain trains barcelona alicante

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi there, I found your web site by way of Google

    while looking for a comparable topic, your web site came up, it seems

    great. I've bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
    Here is my blog - maltchandelier.blogspot.fr

    ReplyDelete
  9. There are some attention-grabbing points in
    time on this article however I don’t know if I see all of them heart to
    heart. There's some validity but I will take maintain opinion until I look into it

    further. Good article , thanks and we would like more! Added to FeedBurner as properly
    Check out my homepage ; http://wiki-paesaggio.arc.uniroma1.it

    ReplyDelete
  10. We absolutely love your blog and find almost all of your
    post's to be what precisely I'm

    looking for. Does one offer guest writers to write content in
    your case? I wouldn't mind creating

    a post or elaborating on many of the subjects you write

    regarding here. Again, awesome web log!
    Also visit my web-site :: http://www.musiclibre.org/wiki/index.php?title=User:LorileeGibson980

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is perfect time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be
    happy. I've read this post and if I could I want to suggest you few interesting things or

    tips. Maybe you can write next articles referring to this article. I wish

    to read more things about it!
    Look at my homepage - spain pics christmas

    ReplyDelete