A New Year. As that fateful moment rolls across the globe from Kiribati to American Samoa a multitudinous collection of traditions dot the human landscape. Fireworks burn sulfur and charcoal across the skies, the ball drops in Times Square, “The Blue Danube” pours through the streets of Vienna, and 108 strikes ring from the gongs of Buddhist temples across Japan. People seize on the changing of that last little number in the date to update themselves, to refresh their goals and molt the accumulation of misdeeds, heartache, apprehension, and plain old ill luck. Latin people are especially fond of a number of superstitions to birth an auspicious new year, Mexicans being no exception.
Across the country, families and friends gather to eat traditional meals of turkey and mole and to drink and stay up to all hours of the night. They are also said to:
- Eat 12 grapes at midnight. They make a wish for each grape and try to down them all (in succession) in a minute.
- Choose lingerie colors for luck. Red for love, yellow for more general success, green for money, etc. (although there seems to be some disagreement over the actual color code).
- Throw a bucket of water out the window to get rid of the old.
- List the bad things from the previous year on paper and burn them to get rid of them.- Bake bread with a coin. Whoever gets the coin has good luck for the next year.
- Grab a suitcase and take a walk around the house (outside or in) for good travels in the coming year.
But which of these traditions are alive, and not the dusty vestige of some old almanac of cultural quirks?
Cesar, a teenager from Guadalajara described a typical scenario. “We travel to another city and have a family reunion and a meal and a party.”
Based on a random sampling in downtown Guadalajara, Tapatíos don’t often deviate from the family meal, although they may enjoy anything from ham to turkey to chicken. Piñatas, tamales, and pozole were also mentioned, perhaps holdovers from the posada season.
As for the castings of good luck, almost everyone said they abide by the eating of grapes.
Most had heard of the suitcase tradition, though few had tried it, and, when pressed as to its effectiveness, one Tapatía laughed and admitted, “No. It didn’t work very well.”
Most pled ignorance on the tradition of the colored underwear, despite its widespread fame. Although one group intimated, “yes, I know a lot of people who do that.”
Only one person, Eliana from Guadalajara, mentioned the water bucket, although she added, “we’ve never done that.”
Traditions are not uniform across the nation. Reina, a teacher from Tabasco, gave her local twist on the paper burning. “[In Tabasco we make] dolls that represent the old year, these dolls are filled with gunpowder and firecrackers and sparklers. At 12, the people burn them in the street, to burn everything that happened and everything negative.”
It seems whatever the specifics, Mexicans spend the moment with those closest to them, hopeful. As the glow of explosive dolls bakes the first moments of the Tabasco New Year in hyper color, the people celebrate, and across the nation fresh eyes look eagerly on different little horizons.