Vietnamese New Year is Tet. Tet is a very important festival because it provides one of the few breaks in the agricultural year, as it falls between the harvesting of the crops and the sowing of the new crops. The last day of the year a plant such as the bamboo tree is planted in the courtyard of their homes. They decorate the tree with bells, flowers, and red streamers. The decorations are not for decorative purposes but are to guard the family against evil spirits.
The Tibetan New year is known as Losar. The New Year is celebrated in late January or early February at the time of the new moon and is a religious ceremony. They would go visit the monasteries to give gifts to the monks. They let off firecrackers and torches are used to rid the homes of evil spirits which may be lurking.
The Thai New Year festival is called Songkran and lasts for three days from 13 to 15 April according the Gregorian calendar. The customs are people throw water over one another, under the guise of that it will bring good rains in the coming year and all the Buddha statues or images are washed. They visit the monastery to pray and offer gifts of rice, fruit, sweets and other foods for the monks.
The Taiwanese begin New Year with the Lantern Festival, also known as Shang Yuan Festival, takes place on the fifteenth day of the first moon. On the night of the festival, decorative lanterns depicting birds, beasts, historical figures, and any one of a number of different themes are carried by children or adorn temples.
In Switzerland people celebrate Old Sylvester's Day on 13 January according to the Julian calendar. People go through the streets dressed in costumes and hats representing good and evil spirits.
In Sri Lanka they celebrate the New Year on 13 or 14 April because they use the Hindu calendar to set the date for the festival. They clean their houses during the days leading up to the New Year, they might even paint their houses and they also make several types of sweets to be eaten on New Year's Day. No food is cooked and there are no lights or fires lit on the night before New Year.
In the South Pacific region, great importance is attached to the appearance of the group of stars called the Pleiades in mid-October. The reason is that this marks the end of the harvesting season and the end of the year. The festival of Makahki is held to celebrate. It is a time for feasting, sports and truce-making.
In Scotland New Year's Eve they all link arms in a circle and sing the traditional New Year song Auld Lang Syne. In some Scottish villages barrels of tar are set on fire and rolled through the streets. This is done to burn up the old year and to allow the New Year in. One method used in the old days to remove evil spirits was to banish the evil to a cat or dog and scare them away.
In Scandinavia the traditions of the new year are connected with the old winter festivities of the scandinavian norsemen and celebration of Yule. They used to involve time and light and fire to encourage the sun to return and were celebrated around the winter solstitium or solstice. Beer consumption and feasting were the hallmarks of the celebration as is today in the Anglo-world.
In the Russia Grandfather Frost arrives on New Year's Eve with bags of toys. He looks much like Santa Claus but wears blue instead of red. Father Frost can punish any evil doer by freezing them. Often kids dance around the tree, tell rhymes to Father Frost then receive their presents.
On New Year’s Eve, Romanian children sing Plugusorul and Sorcova. In their songs, they wish good luck, happiness and success. You can hear the ringing of the bells and the bull sounds. The goat’s game, the bear’s game and the masks’ game are old Romanian customs. The Bear, the Goat, the Bunghiers, the Caiutii, the Malanca, the Jiens and the Masked are expected to show up on New Year’s Eve. All of these stand for an original way of expressing the ritual associations of animals with almost universal worshiping of the Sun.
In Punjab the New Year festival is known as Baisakhi and is celebrated on 13 April. This day is also an important religious festival. They believe in the one God whom they call The True Name.
The Portuguese pick and eat twelve grapes from a bunch as the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Eve. This is done to ensure twelve happy months in the coming year. In Northern Portugal children go caroling from home to home and are given treats and coins. They sing old songs or Janeiro's which is said to bring good luck.
At the announcement of Persian New Year or Noruz which is the exact moment of spring, all family members sit around haft-sin table and may read a prayer for health and happiness.
The Parsees celebrate the traditional Persian New Year by worshipping at their fire temples, visiting friends and family, wearing new clothes and feasting. They usually observe the New Year on March 31 but some Parsees believe it is later in the year.
New Year in Pakistan is known as Nowrooz or New Day. This day begins in March and traditionally represents the rebirth of nature after the long winter. One of the customs of Nawrooz is the practice of burning piles of wood. The bonfires are a symbol to destroy any remaining evil from the previous year.
Andso andso and so it goes for all the new years of the world.
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