Since New Years’ Eve is celebrated around the world, there are a lot of interesting New Years’ facts. From the giant party in New York City to smaller celebrations around the world. There are many traditions that have become popular with bringing in the New Year.
Interesting New Years’ Facts
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Baby New Year
The tradition of Baby New Year has been around since ancient Greece. During New Years’ celebrations for Dionysus, a baby was paraded through the streets as a symbol of the rebirth of the year. In more recent times the New Years Baby has been paired with Father Time as a companion.
Times Square Celebrations
The first New Years Celebration in Times Square was to celebrate the opening of the New York Times building in 1904. Over 200,000 people showed up for the opening of the building. Now the crowd grows to over 1 million people each year.
More Than Just a Ball Drop
Even though most people are familiar with the famous ball drop in Times Square. Many cities have their own unique way to usher in the New Year. There is the Pickle drop in Mt. Olive, North Carolina, a boot drop in Prescott, Arizona. And a giant Moon Pie in Mobile, Alabama. These are only a few of the weird things that different places drop-in celebration of New Years’.
New Years Kiss
This is a tradition that has been around since Roman times too. It dates back to the festivities of Saturnalia. Which celebrated the god Saturn, god of times. Many of the traditions from this festival were later incorporated into Christian celebrations of Christmas and New Years’.
Related to New Years’ Facts: 10 Interesting Christmas Facts and 10 Interesting Thanksgiving Facts
New Years Food
There are many different foods that are considered to be good luck to eat on New Years’. One of the most popular is Black Eyed Peas, Leafy Greens, and Cornbread. Followed by Pork dishes and Grapes and round foods. In Spain, they celebrate by eating 12 grapes right at midnight.
Times Square Ball
The ball is made up of over 2,000 crystals and can weigh over 11,000 lbs. The number of crystals is not the same each year because there is a new ball designed every year. In the first years of the ball drop, it was made from iron and wood. But the materials have changed a lot over the years.
More Times Square
The ball has dropped each year since 1907. With exceptions made during WWII due to lighting restrictions in 1942 and 1943. During those years the ball did not light up at all.
Drink Up
Over 360 million glasses of sparkling wine/champagne is consumed on New Year’s Eve. Followed by beer and mixed drinks. It is considered one of the booziest holidays of the year.
New Years Resolutions
Over 41% of people make some sort of New Year’s resolutions. Most of them have to do with eating healthy and exercising. Others involve saving money and lowering stress. Most people give up by February. But there are a few people each year that actually manage to hold out and complete their resolutions.
New Years Song
“Aude Lang Syne” is the traditional song of New Years’. It was written in 1788 by the poet Robert Burns. The name means roughly “times long past” and the poem is about old friends meeting again.
Final Thoughts on New Years’ Facts
New Year’s Eve is one of the biggest holidays of the year and most people around the world celebrate it. From food to bring luck in the New Year to odd traditions that people have. there is no shortage of New Years facts.
What are your favorite parts of celebrating New Year’s Eve? Let me know in the comments.