Fun New Year’s Eve Traditions from Europe

You surely have your own New Year’s Eve traditions like celebrating with noisemakers, a kiss at the stroke of midnight, or watching the ball drop in Times Square. As an American expat living in Europe, I am intrigued by the holiday traditions on this side of the Atlantic. Read on to learn about fascinating New Year’s Eve traditions from Europe and how these customs have influenced celebrations around the world.

Spanish champagne and the lucky 12 grapes ~ 3 Fun New Year's Eve Traditions from Europe
Eat 12 lucky grapes in Spain on New Year’s Eve (Photo credit: Deposit Photos)

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New Year’s Eve Traditions in Spain

Spain has some delightful traditions for ensuring a happy New Year (Nochevieja in Spanish).

Lucky Charms

As in the United States and beyond, Spaniards drink sparkling wine at midnight on December 31st. For good fortune in the New Year in Spain, though, you need to drop a gold object into your champagne glass (such as a ring). Then you drink the cava from the glass and retrieve the lucky charm.

In Spain, revelers wear red underwear on New Year's Eve
Red lingerie for good luck in the following year in Spain Depositphotos.com)

Lucky Underwear

Spaniards also wear a lucky color underwear on New Year’s Eve. Red underwear is said to bring good luck. You can’t buy yourself these lucky panties, however. They must be given to you!

Grapes at Midnight

At midnight on New Year’s Eve in Spain, you should eat 12 green grapes, one for every strike of the clock. Each grape represents a month of the year and will give you good luck if you finish all dozen grapes in time. This fun tradition is carried out in public in the major squares in Spain’s cities.

My family members joined the Spaniards eating grapes at the Plaza Nueva in Seville when we were there for New Year’s Eve. I didn’t check to see what color underwear the revelers were wearing, though!

Fireworks in Copenhagen Denmark ~ Fun New Year's Eve Traditions from Europe
Fireworks in Copenhagen on New Year’s Eve (Photo credit: Deposit Photos)

How to Celebrate New Year’s Eve in Denmark

In Denmark, it’s tradition for the Queen to broadcast a speech to the Danish populace each New Year’s Eve. Then it’s time for the usual reveling and New Year celebrations.

Breaking Plates

You know how naughty tricksters might go egging on Halloween in the U.S.? Well, in Denmark they take throwing things at houses on New Year’s Eve to extreme lengths. The Danes save their broken plates during the year and then smash them against their friends’ doors on this holiday. The more broken crockery you have at your front door, the more popular you are.

Danes send good New Year's wishes to their neighbors with broken dishes
Danes send good New Year’s wishes to their neighbors with broken dishes (Photo credit: wernerimages, Depositphotos.com)

New Year’s Eve Fireworks

Fireworks were traditionally set off in many countries because their loud noise scared off evil spirits. Presumably, the evil spirits were not sufficiently scared off by some good Danish plate-throwing.

Fireworks over Edinburgh Castle ~ New Year's Eve Traditions from Europe
Fireworks over Edinburgh Castle (Photo credit: Depositphotos.com)

Scottish Hogmanay Traditions

Hogmanay, or New Year’s Eve in Scotland, is taken so seriously that the second of January is a holiday as well. It takes the Scots two days to recover from the Hogmanay celebrations.

Hogmanay probably has a pagan background coming from the Vikings’ influence. Moreover, for about 400 years, Scotland did not officially celebrate Christmas. After the Protestant Reformation, the Church of Scotland believed Christmas was a Roman Catholic festival. People only celebrated and exchanged presents at New Year. In fact, Christmas did not become a public holiday (and a day off from work) in Scotland until 1958.

Auld Lang Syne

Many of the old Scottish New Year’s Eve traditions are still practiced throughout the country. For example, right after midnight, everyone sings Auld Lang Syne, a Scottish poem turned folksong.

Traditional Scottish shortbread served at the start of the year
Traditional Scottish shortbread served at the start of the year (Photo credit: CogentMarketing, Depositphotos.com)

Scottish Luck in the New Year

For good luck in the new year, the first person who enters a house after midnight on New Year’s Eve in Scotland should bring a gift of whiskey or shortbread (or both!). There is a pecking order of luck, too, for the first person who enters. A tall dark-haired person is the best choice to show up on New Year’s Day. Meanwhile, it’s considered bad luck if a red-headed woman enters first on January 1st.

Torchlight and Fireballs

To scare away evil spirits, many Scottish towns and cities host firework displays, torchlight processions, and bonfires. The town of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire has a unique Fireballs custom. A procession of people swings balls of fire above their heads until they reach the harbor, where they dump the fireballs into the sea. Can you guess what music is played during this fiery cavalcade? No, not Jerry Lee Lewis’s Great Balls of Fire…it’s traditional Scottish bagpipes, of course!

The pooping log, or tió de nadal, is a wacky Christmas tradition from Spain
The pooping log, or tió de nadal, is an unusual Christmas tradition from Catalonia, Spain (Photo credit: Justine Ancheta, Latitude 41)

Explore International Holiday Season Traditions

Read about a dozen unusual Christmas traditions from European countries like the golden pig from the Czech Republic or the log that poops small gifts for children on Christmas Eve in Catalonia.

Discover Christmas markets around the world you’ll want to visit in Europe’s capital of Christmas in Strasbourg, France and beyond.

Celebrate the Christmas season with different traditions across many countries with the best White Christmas vacation ideas.

Learn about the winter holiday, Kwanzaa’s origins and traditions.

New Year's Eve Traditions from Europe

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Influential New Year's Eve Traditions for Europe

Do you know other fun New Year’s Eve traditions from Europe or other areas of the world? What is your favorite way to ring in the New Year? Let us know in the comments below!

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24 Comments

  1. LOL. I think the Scots were worried about Viking raiders who were generally tall blonde men. Vikings on your doorstep was never going to be a good day.

  2. My middle kid and I usually complain about why we stay up so late on New Year’s, and not July 31 or Nov. 30. We also play the Game of Life on the Wii, and snack and have sparkling grape juice. I’m not ready to go to bed right away, so I stay up and … read blogs. This is perfect for my first post read of 2017! Such cool traditions I never knew about.

    I’d eat 12 tamales at midnight.

    1. Reading blogs sounds like a great way to ring in the New Year to me! 🙂 Hope you have a wonderful 2017!

  3. I think it’s a pretty easy one to to but people have said gobbling down a grape for each chime (you have to finish in time) is harder than it sounds.