Which country has the strangest New Year’s Eve tradition?
Customs include sleeping in coffins, having sex the night before the new year, and smashing crockery
Hong Kong has cancelled its annual New Year’s Eve fireworks because of the ongoing pro-democracy protests which have engulfed the city since June.
Elsewhere in the world, people will be toasting the end of 2019 and the arrival of 2020, often joyfully and sometimes, weirdly. Here are some countries with the most bizarre celebrations.
1. Thailand
A bit dark, yet coffins make the party. Death and rebirth are on opposite sides of the same coin. Anchored to the belief that a dying year allows for a “new life” to start, people line up to lie in coffins at the Takien temple in Bangkok. Families and friends lie close to each other as monks oversee the momentary burial. This ritual helps to get rid of bad luck and gives the chance of a fresh start in the new year. Worshippers hold flowers and incense as they’re covered with bright pink silk sheets and the monks chant prayers for the dead. When the sheets are removed, the believers rise to face life anew. Welcoming the new year with one’s own funeral allows people to let go of their suffering, everyday burdens and cleanse body and soul.
2. United States
New York’s Times Square fireworks and mass get-together are one of the world’s most glittering New Year’s Eve celebrations. Originally meant to represent an apple (The Big Apple), it used to feature a green stem. In other American cities, different locally symbolic giant objects are lowered from above including a fake peach in Atlanta (dubbed The Big Peach), fleur-de-lis in New Orleans and walleye fish in Ohio alongside music, concerts, parades and fireworks.
3. Italy
In Italy, eating is the main action. Wine drops are smudged behind ears and on wrists as a blessing. After midnight, good-luck dishes of cotechino and lenticchie – lentils and pork sausage – are devoured. The more lentils, the more money will flow into pockets.