A Fading Tradition

On Christmas eve, my friend Peter sent me a picture which brought a smile to my face. The picture was of his daughter along with the iconic ‘Old Man’. His message followed, ‘the losing tradition.’ He further asked me to write about this losing tradition.

'Old Man' was much seen around every 31st December. My generation and before would know how an old man is synonymous with 31st December. Yet, the generations after mine have had a trailing experience, and now there is merely none.

Like my son who got the peanut with pods the other day, thinking it was a new munchie. He was surprised and disappointed to find it is after all just a peanut. Likewise, the latest generations would never be able to relate to an Old Man and the tradition around it.

There are happy stories that are pure nostalgic around this time of the year, and Old Man.

My cook Priya told me she was born and brought up in a place in central Maharashtra that had a lot of churches. There used to be many Old Men placed all along her way to the school. She says, "It was a scary thing for her as a child. Walking under the stare of these effigies who were old, bearded, without a distinct face, and looked drunk and sloshed." She says, "I used to run through the lane avoiding these Old Men."

Once she asked her teacher, "What are these effigies?" Thus, she came to know about 'Old Man' and the tradition behind it.

Old Man symbolizes the passing of an old year. These effigies are dressed as old men, with white beards, and liquor bottles in their hands.?They are put at junctions or prominent locations all through the Christmas week, until 31st December on which day they are burnt at midnight. They are all that we want to leave behind in the passing year and welcome the new year in a new light. Old habits, setbacks, and issues – leaving them all behind and entering the new year with the right promises, and spirit.

I remember my days as a child, and as a teenager. Making an old man used to be such an important task then. Like going around houses in society asking people to donate their old clothes, newspapers, cloth rags, and things that we could stuff into the old man. Someone would donate a shirt, someone would give a pair of pants, and someone their old shoes.

One year, no one was ready to donate a pair of pants for our old man, and we wondered, how do we even have a legless Old Man. After much convincing mom, she gave an old pair of dad's pants.

And, I always thought, why just old men? Why the liquor bottle? Why not an old woman? But back then, women in my acquaintance did not drink liquor, and hence I self-justified why it was just an old man.

We proudly displayed the old man on the roof of our society office and on 31st December would parade it around the society, and ultimately burn it in the bonfire, welcoming the new year.

Innocence, ignorance, tradition, whatever, it brought together people and made them smile, celebrate, and socialize. The Old Man taught us to start fresh a year, or any issue in life.

Like Old Man, there are many interesting traditions across the world, around 31st December.

Spain

In Spain, it is customary to eat 12 grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve. Each grape represents good luck for one month of the coming year. In bigger cities like Madrid and Barcelona, people gather in main squares to eat their grapes together and pass around bottles of cava.

Colombia

I hope that the new year brings plenty of travel opportunities!

In Colombia, one way people celebrate the new year is by carrying empty suitcases around the block.

"I Like That. But taking around empty suitcases around the block is definitely reassuring, if not the travel itself.”

Denmark

Residents of Denmark say goodbye to the old year and usher in the new one by banishing bad spirits by throwing old plates and glasses against the doors of family and friends. They also stand on chairs and jump off of them together at midnight, leaping into January in hopes of good luck.

Philippines

You'll find round shapes all over the Philippines on New Year's Eve. These round shapes represent coins and symbolize prosperity in the coming year.

Brazil

In Brazil, as well as other Central and South American countries like Ecuador, Bolivia, and Venezuela, it is thought to be lucky to wear special underwear on New Year's Eve. The most popular colours are red, thought to bring love in the New Year, and yellow, thought to bring money.

“Now that's the weirdest one I have read. Who’s going shopping for a new underwear for the new year’s eve?”

Greece

In Greece, an onion is traditionally hung on the front door of homes on New Year's Eve as a symbol of rebirth in the New Year. On New Year's Day, parents wake their children by tapping them on the head with the onion.

?All these traditions only mean people like to hope and look forward to living with this hope during the new year.

Restoring traditions in these times as Old Man seems difficult and unpractical. We do not have practical open grounds to create born fires and burn effigies. But more than that, we have lost the innocence of the small, fancy things in life that once made us lively and happy.

But again, the new year is about letting go of the old and welcoming the new.

What has been your memory of Old Man?

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Ref - https://worldstrides.com/blog/2016/12/9-new-years-traditions-cultures-around-world/

https://allaboutbelgaum.com/lifestyle/old-man-effigy-for-the-new-year/

https://happyfeet.us/goa/burning-old-man