Five Awesome New Year’s Traditions
These wonderful New Year’s celebrations are unique and special. They are much different from usual traditions like staying up late or having a party. People take these traditions very seriously and enjoy them every year.
New Year’s Celebration Underwater
Baikal is the world’s deepest lake and Earth’s largest freshwater reserve. A strange and dangerous New Year’s tradition takes place here. Professional scuba divers cut holes into the ice on the lake and dive down 40 meters to take part in a ritual carried out every year since 1982.
One diver gets to carry down a New Year’s tree wearing equipment more than 100 kg heavy. Other divers “dance” around the tree. The Ice Maiden and Father Frost are two popular figures in Russian culture. Divers can take pictures with them in this special celebration. Many scuba divers have become famous for performing this risky dive.
New Year’s at a Cemetery
For the last 11 years, the people of Talca—a small city in Chile-have been celebrating New Year’s with their dead relatives. After the town’s vicar finishes mass, the mayor opens the doors to the cemetery at eleven o’ clock. People can bring dim lights and classical music. The people who enjoy celebrating New Year’s with their loved ones may do so in peace.
This tradition supposedly started when a local family climbed over the fence in the cemetery to spend New Year’s near their father’s grave. Now more than 5,000 people have adopted this tradition.
New Year with Spiritualism
Mexicans believe they can communicate with the spirits of the dead on a special day called Day of the Dead. New Year’s is also apparently a good time to contact loved ones who have passed on. A great way to start out the New Year is to enjoy a peaceful session of spiritism and meditation.
New Year’s Soap Opera
In Germany, what do you think people do to celebrate New Year’s? They watch a British soap opera called “Dinner for One”. As strange as it sounds, watching this soap opera has become the most popular New Year’s celebration in Germany!
This television skit has never been aired in any English-speaking country, including Britain.
Celebrating New Year’s with a Fresh Start
In some places such as Cusco and Machu Picchu, people still practice the rituals of the Inca. One of these rituals has become very popular to tourists that visit Peru on New Year’s. Temascal involves a small wooden chamber covered with cloth signifying the womb of Mother Earth.
A person celebrating Temascal would step into the chamber and have his/her “aura” cleansed. They are purified as if they were reborn without sins and worries.
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