Carp, crowns and birthdays: New Year’s Eve traditions from around the world
See which city once crowned a commoner king for the day; which country still marks the fresh start as every citizen’s birthday.
In the Mesopotamian city of Babylon, which existed c. 2000 BCE, it was customary to start the new year by crowning a commoner “king for a day”, after which he was sacrificed to the gods. (Incidentally, Babylon was a rare, early civilisation with a fixed, 12-month calendar, though I’m fairly certain that’s not the detail on your mind right now.)
One year, this lot fell to Enlil-bani, the king’s gardener, who was duly crowned. Later in the day, the real king fell ill and died. So the gardener remained on the throne for the next quarter of a century. Rare Sumerian texts from this period include poems in praise of him, so he seems to have figured out how to do the job too. (Which goes to show that a new year can mark a whole new start, if done just right.)
Another culture with a particularly unusual approach to the holiday coming up for us all is Vietnam, where the start of a new year is also everyone’s birthday. Everyone simply becomes a year older at this time. Celebrations often involve a fish. It is believed that the kitchen gods, guardians of the home and family, travel by carp. So the observant will often buy a live carp, then release it in a river or pond, as a wish for a good year.
Tet Nguyen Dan or the Vietnamese Lunar New Year typically falls between January 21 and February 19 on the Gregorian calendar (which, incidentally, was not named for a king, as many assume, but for Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in 1582).
Tibet, meanwhile, marks a rather quiet New Year’s Day. In the morning, a piece of coloured silk is placed over a heap of baked flour and dried fruit. The head of the house tosses some of the fruit up three times with his right hand and eats it; no words are exchanged.
Indonesia’s New Year’s Eve is quieter still. Nyepi, a public holiday, is a day of silence, fasting and meditation. (This year, it falls on March 10).
Water, fire and laughter play key roles in some cultures. The Thai new year is marked by celebrants, particularly farmers, throwing water to simulate rain, as a prayer for a good year’s crops.
Zoroastrians jump over fire as part of a purification ritual before the start of their Nowruz (usually marked in March). It is additionally considered bad luck to stay indoors on this day, so families and neighbourhoods often organise special picnic events.
In Cambodia, festivities last three days. People clean their homes and home altars to welcome the New Angel, the guardian and protector of the year. They throw water at one another as a form of blessing (and fun). Sometimes the water is coloured red, pink or yellow, in a wish for vibrant good luck.
Traditional Japanese mark the start of their new year by laughing, which is believed to bring good luck too.
And in China, every door and window in the house is opened on New Year’s Eve, to let the old year out. All debts must be repaid by this time. Convivial parties gather to eat raw fish. Which is considered highly auspicious because its Chinese name, yu sheng, may also be interpreted as “over-abundance”.
(Adam Jacot de Boinod is the author of The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World)
