New Year's Eve Facts 2018: Interesting Traditions, Trivia About The Holiday

It is that time of the year again when you look back upon on all that transpired in the past year as you head into a fresh year. New Year’s Eve 2018 is a time to keep old traditions alive and plan for new ones till the clock strikes midnight and ushers in another year in your life.

New Year’s Eve – that is, Dec. 31 – is observed as a holiday throughout the world as people gather together to celebrate their achievements and reflect on all the good times the previous year had had to offer.

Before you rush off to eat, drink and make merry with your near and dear ones, take a look at some of the rituals, traditions and beliefs observed by people around the world on this day:

1) The Roman Catholic Church was one of the first to observe Jan. 1, as the New Year, because that is what the Gregorian calendar dictated. The first month of the year – January – is named after Janus, the god that has two faces, one facing backward and one facing forward, CNN reported.

2) You must have heard of people making resolutions — like getting rid of a bad habit of taking up a new hobby — on New Year’s Eve that they intend on following through for the rest of the upcoming year; but did you know the ancient Persians gave gifts of eggs on the eve, which symbolized productiveness.

3) The ball dropping ceremony in Times Square, New York, has become one of the iconic images of New Year’s Eve celebrations, but it is not the oldest celebration that New Yorkers participated in to kick off the new year. The New York Times produced the first rooftop celebration atop One Times Square, when a fireworks display took place in 1904 to inaugurate their new headquarters in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

4) And speaking of the Times Square’s ball dropping ceremony, it might interest you to know that the tradition dates back to Dec. 31, 1907. Around a million people gather around Times Square on New Year’s Eve every year to witness the grand celebration. The tradition was suspended for two consecutive years — 1942 and 1943 — because of the Second World War.

5) Many people around the United States will feast on black-eyed peas on New Year’s Eve as they believe that it brings good luck. Similarly, leafy greens and legumes are eaten in Ireland, Germany and Italy. The Japanese, on the other hand, believe that eating long noodles on New Year’s Eve means that they would be granted the gift of long life in the coming year. Mexico, Greece and other places celebrate the holiday by feasting on ring-shaped cakes, which are meant to denote the fact that life has come a full cirle, AJC reported.

6) "Auld Lang Syne" – a poem written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788, is traditionally sung on New Year’s Eve. It is believed to be based on an old folk song. The words “auld lang syne” mean "times gone by."