New Year's Eve traditions around the world

Do you like ending the year with a bang, while welcoming the next with bad singing and worse dancing? Or do you head to bed early to begin the new year fresh and ready to take it all on? We all have our typical traditions, and so do the rest of the world!

If you bring in 2022 over in Denmark you may think there are savoury characters around with streets lined with broken glass and plates. Instead, you’ll have come across their tradition of smashing old tableware against the doors of friends which is believed to dispose of bad spirits.

Meanwhile, you need your walking shoes on in South America… and an empty suitcase. Locals in various countries, including Colombia and Mexico, carry their cases around their local area on New Year’s Eve in hopes the practice will bring a travel-filled year.

Maybe you want a refreshing snack at the stroke of midnight. In which case head to Spain where it is tradition to eat the ‘twelve grapes of luck’. The idea is to eat a grape in each toll of the midnight bell to rid evils and bring prosperity.

Of course, no New Year’s Eve is complete without a sky full of fireworks, a tradition carried out the world around.