Tag Archives: new year’s eve

Spanish New Year Tradition: Eating 12 Grapes

Context:
The informant is a 20-year-old guy living in California. His mother’s side of the family is Spanish and his family still practice some Spanish traditions in their American household.

Text:
Informant: Basically, at midnight on New Year’s Eve, when the clock strikes twelve, we will eat 12 grapes. Each of them symbolizes a month in the upcoming year, so it’s important that you eat all 12 of them. It gives you good luck.
Collector: Does it matter whether they are green grapes or purple ones?
Informant: I don’t think so. Although I heard my mom say that you should eat the grapes along with the bell trikes. Well, we don’t get that here in California, so we kind of just eat them one by one.

Analysis:
In Spain, there are a great variety of grapes and grapes are important to their agriculture and wineries. Grapes are most likely a symbol of prosperity. According to the article in Atlas Obscura, the tradition might come from a clever farmer’s marketing strategy to digest a surplus harvest, or from an imitation of French customs acted by the bourgeoisie in Spain. Regardless of the origin, Spanish people see this tradition as a way to avoid bad luck and bring good luck for the upcoming year. This idea of 12 grapes symbolizing 12 months can be seen as homeopathic magic, meaning that the people would have grapes, or other crops, to harvest every month in the upcoming year. Some parts of this tradition are lost in the informant’s family since they emigrated from Spain to the United States; however, they still continue to perform this tradition each year to remember their cultural roots and cultural identity.

New Years Grapes: Folk Belief/Ritual During a Holiday

Text: 

Me: “Hi AA do you have any rituals, practices, or festivals in mind?”

AA: “um, I have this unique ritual or I guess you can call it a folk belief, it actually takes place during New Years Eve.”

Me: “Does it have to do with your culture?”

AA: “Yes, so on New Year’s Eve my Dominican family and I often gather around as we wait for the countdown to midnight. As we wait, my grandma passes out 12 green grapes and a glass of champagne to everyone. In theory, once the clock strikes 12, we are supposed to eat the 12 grapes while making 12 wishes or aspirations for the 12 months of the new year ahead. If you take too long or If you don’t eat the grapes by the time the firecrackers, the cheers, and the celebrations stop, you will have bad luck in the upcoming year; that is why people usually eat their grapes first and then wash it down with champagne before hugging people and celebrating the New Year.”

Context (informant’s relationship to the piece, where they heard it, how they interpret it):

-AA’s relationship to this folk belief/ritual stems from her Dominican culture, family, and household considering this practice and belief system is seen in many parts of Latin America. AA would hear about this ritual/belief all her life given that she has always been exposed to it; she would either host New Years Eve at her home or be invited to other households where the ritual/belief will take place. AA interprets this ritual/belief as a fun, creative, and silly way to pass the time during such a transitional period during the end of the year. AA has noticed that the older people in her family tend to take this belief/ritual more seriously as they often sit alone and think very diligently about each wish. AA believes this has to do with the fact that older generations seem to be more adamant about their religion and faith. In contrast, AA often interprets this practice as a silly entertaining act that shouldn’t be classified as a serious matter.

Analysis(what kind of personal, cultural, or historical values might be expressed) YOUR interpretation:

-The overall cultural value within this New Year’s folk belief/ritual stems from Hispanic culture given that it is typically correlated with Latin American communities and households. Many assume that this ritual/belief is practiced by Hispanic cultures because it involves a profound way of believing which can be found within religious Catholic practices of Hispanic communities. The personal values that can be seen within this belief/ritual is that it allows an individual to embrace their spirituality in a way to remain hopeful for the next year. The factors of religion, beliefs, faith, and optimism are all key factors that one needs to find within themselves personally, in order to truly believe that their 12 wishes will come true; this idea exemplifies one’s conscious beliefs considering the goal is to not receive bad luck. I interpret this ritual/belief as a wholesome manifestation practice. Considering that I have participated in this ritual/belief process during New Year’s Eve as well, I am able to see this process as a familial activity that can bring on hope, optimism, determination, and faith for the upcoming year. I believe this is stemmed from one’s spiritual beliefs, considering if you truly believe in your wish, you will do everything in your power to make it come true. This ritual/belief can be seen as an overall superstition given the fact that the idea of one’s wishes coming true is a striking concept that an individual can choose to believe in. Not to mention, this New Years belief/ritual is a subjective ideology that can be determined by one’s overall level of value and meaning that they place upon it; this can be seen within older generations as their religious and spiritual beliefs allows them to be more invested in their wishes, as depicted by AA’s family. A similar ritual/belief that involves the same notions of wishes and manifestations is the practice of walking outside with a suitcase as the clock strikes midnight during New Years as well; this is done to signify luck for travel in the upcoming year.

Ritual: New Year’s Eve Jump

Text

Interspersed within their explanation of the ritual are frequent giggles as the informant looked back on performing this ritual.

“Something that happens on the night of New Year’s Eve– I guess it happens right at countdown. My family does this for years. My mom still does this. Right when it strikes midnight, we jump as high as we can several times until the first minute is done, so you can get taller in the New Year.”

Context

RELATIONSHIP –
“This is just really funny because my mom is 4’9″. I grew up doing it. I don’t know if it’s just a Filipino tradition… but it’s something that my family has been doing. I think it was something more prominent as I became a teenager because my mom is all about the holidays, so she says ‘Ah, just keep jumping! Show your excitement! Ah, the New Year!’ Of course, I don’t believe in it because I’ve been 5’1″ for several years.”

WHERE THEY HEARD IT –
“My mom. I don’t remember the first time it happened. I think it was when I was really young, like when I was in Kindergarten. It was around when I was finally old enough to stay awake around midnight. I knew it was really early on in my elementary school years. I would jump, but my eye level wouldn’t go up that high.”

INTERPRETATION –
“It’s just a silly little thing to do with your family to get enjoyment out of the celebration. It’s one of those traditions my mom does just to like, bring the family together. She grew up with nine other siblings so I’m sure a lot of family traditions happened a lot in her childhood, and she kind of wanted to transfer that to us– to her kids.”

Analysis

This jumping ritual seems to stem off the belief that, with the New Year, comes hope for change. Tall height is seen as an attractive trait to have in many places, and it may be something that people wish for themselves to happen in the future. Especially in the case of younger children when it’s uncertain what height they’ll grow into yet, it feels like a number that’s malleable and subject to change, so it’s natural that people try to take matters into their own hands in an attempt to reach the height that they wish for themselves in the future. Eventually, the belief in it dies down as the participants grow older, but at that point it’s just a fun activity to do with the family and people around you on New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Traditions

Context

AG is my friend from back home in Chicago, Illinois. She was born in Joliet, Illinois and then moved to Chicago when she was five years old. Her mother was born and raised in Joliet and is of Mexican descent. Her father immigrated to California when he was twenty five years old from El Salvador. He then moved to Joliet when he was thirty. 


Text

DO (interviewer):  I know that we often talk about certain superstitions or things that our families do during the holidays. Can you talk to me more about which one or ones you consider to be your favorite? Or one, or ones, that you do the most often?

AG: The one we have the most fun with is probably the suitcase one on New Years. It’s so fun dude. 

DO: Can you talk more about it? 

AG: So, the saying goes. Once midnight hits on New Year’s Eve, so technically I guess it’s New Year’s Day at that point. Anyway. Once it hits you run around with an empty suitcase. Just around your block a few times and this will ensure that you travel a lot in the upcoming year. 

DO: What does this tradition mean to you and what’s your stance on it? Do you believe it works?

AG: Well, growing up we were mad poor. You know this. Even after we moved to the city we didn’t have much money, you know? So it was fun to just run around with my parents and just dream and hope. I’ve traveled a few times throughout my life so I’d say that even if it doesn’t work I’d like to think it does. I’ve never not done it because I wanna travel girl! 

Analysis

The informant and her family have this holiday tradition/ritual every year to bring in lots of traveling. My family also has similar stories of performing this tradition when they were younger, so there are cultural ties to this. However, this empty suitcase travel method is a ritual not tied to a specific cultural community; many cultures have some variation of this lore. Past just performing it because of cultural beliefs, the informant holds a particular superstition about it. She believes that if she doesn’t stick to this tradition, then she will travel less. As she also mentioned, this was a way for her and her family to remain hopeful for future fun during rough times. It is special to the informant for this reason, and she continues to perform it and believes that it helps her travel more. 

Brazilian New Year’s Tradition

Background

This is a description of the Brazilian New Year’s tradition, specifically that of northeast Brazil. The informant is a third-generation Brazilian American, although she has spent a considerable amount of time living in northeast Brazil–specifically the state of Bahia–and is fluent in Portuguese. The informant describes the rituals and traditions common for New Year’s Eve and Day in northeast Brazil. She is careful to note that the traditions come from the traditional Brazilian religion espiritismo, which is a syncretic mix of African religions and Catholicism. She is not an adherent of espiritismo, but she states that the tradition is widespread in Brazil, even for those not following the religion.

Text


MM: Um, so on New Year’s Eve, you typically wear a color that signifies what kind, what you want to bring into the new year. So the most traditional one is white. People want a peaceful new year, that’s white. Um, but the other most popular colors that people wear are yellow to signify wealth and prosperity in the new year. And red to signify passion and love and romance and sex in the new year.


MM: Um, and then on New Year’s Day, there’s a tradition in the northeast of Brazil, Bahia, to go to the ocean and, um, give, put white flowers on the water, um, as an offering for the new year for Iemanjá, who is the goddess of the sea and the most powerful, uh, deity in Brazilian spiritism.

Analysis

As is clear from the informant’s description of the tradition, while there are clear connections to espiritismo, it is not necessary to adhere to the religion to be influenced by it in Brazil. The informant knows that the deity is Iemanjá who controls the sea, but the deity is described from a secular perspective rather than a religious one. That an expat can experience this tradition is indicative of its pervasiveness in Brazil and espiritismo’s entrenchment in Brazilian culture.

The colors are significant here, too, and point to cultural perceptions of color in Brazil. Red, for example, is associated with passion and sex, suggesting a connection with fertility, menstruation, and blood. The three mentioned are common color associations in European culture, but given the syncretic nature of espiritismo, the associations very well could have originated in Africa.

Iemanjá being the primary deity in espiritismo might allude to the importance of the ocean during the colonial period, especially given that such a massive proportion of the Transatlantic Slave Trade ended up landing in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The treacherous journey across the ocean might be one influence, and the fact that Brazilian colonies largely existed along the coast might be another.