Global Holidays and Traditions - January 2023

In ancient Roman culture,?Jānus?was a god of doorways, beginnings, and the rising and setting of the sun.?As the god of transitions, Janus is often depicted with two, bearded heads that face in opposite directions, looking to both the future and the past.??After 153 BC, January?became the first month of the Roman calendar.??

We start off 2023 after a final night of celebration.??How did/will you celebrate?

If you’re in the UK, I assume you were hoping that the first guest to walk through your door should hopefully be a young, dark-headed male bearing gifts???I only hope this year he is wearing a mask - but did you also know this belief is based less on the preference for brunettes and more on the historical wish that it’s not a blonde Norseman bearing an axe!

The New Year in Japan?often includes a thorough house-cleaning and decorating with pine branches, blossoms and bamboo. You’ll also hear the sound of 108 bells echoing through the streets. This Buddhist tradition is believed to banish human sins, bringing good luck to all. I have also celebrated New Year in Japan with the ringing of temple bells - in one of the most beautiful celebrations I have witnessed!

Our friends in?Ecuador?set fire to scarecrows filled with paper at the stroke of Midnight on New Year's Eve.??They also burn any old photographs that represent bad memories. According to tradition, this ritual burning will banish any ill fortune or bad things that have happened over the previous year.??

For our friends in?Denmark, the New Year celebration includes smashing old dishes on friends’ front doors - and an unspoken contest to see who has the most broken dishes (and thus the most friends)!??And this expression of friendship can be done safely in a pandemic!

In?Spain, my friends will be eating 12 grapes (sometimes sugared) at midnight; one per chime of the clock is mandatory! And of course, there’s tapas and wine!

And for my friends and family in the?Philippines, prosperity for the new year is symbolized in the round shape of foods (there should be 12), coins and even polka dots on your clothes!??Lighting fireworks and throwing candies and coins into the air for the children to gather is also included in the celebration!

In several countries in South America, one influences the next year’s fate by the color of underwear they choose to wear!??Red bring love, yellow money, green luck…?

Meanwhile,?our Italian friends?and colleagues throw old furniture (soft items, hopefully) out of the window to symbolize a fresh start for the upcoming year. From cushions to blankets, anything that no longer brings them joy will be chucked outside.?

Our Argentinian friends?celebrate by throwing things out the window – but have opted for something lighter!??After shredding all their old documents and papers, the Argentines throw them out of the window to look like clouds of confetti. According to custom, they shred everything before the curtain falls on the year, to symbolize leaving the past behind. I am guessing the New Year festivities in Argentina this year will be epic, though perhaps a better guess would be that they haven’t stopped since the World Cup finals!??

And of course, we can’t forget?Hogmanay?and the strange?Scottish?customs that accompany it. The legend goes that a strapping man is meant to rock up at your front door at midnight carrying whisky, coal, short-bread and a black bun (fruitcake), and the tradition continues today, with the first person to cross the threshold of a home in the new year bearing gifts.??

In?Pasto, Colombia, they celebrate the Carnival of Black and White January 2-7… This is a very politically incorrect festival (that has thankfully evolved a bit) - but it’s a centuries-old tradition honored with UNESCO World Heritage status. The festival goes back to the time of Spanish colonial rule, when for one day in January, slaves were given the day off. To show their support, slave masters painted their faces black, and on the following day, slaves painted their faces white. Today, the city of Pasto thankfully celebrates this day with parades, music and food!

Speaking of cleaning, did you know you can toss your old fruitcakes out on Fruitcake Toss Day,?January 3rd???Just saying…

January 7th?is Apple Howling Day?(also known as Apple Wassailing Day) in?Several counties in?Great Britain, including Sussex and Devonshire. It is always celebrated on the first Saturday after New Year. This strange celebration involves visiting apple orchards after sunset where revelers place bread or cake on the roots of the oldest tree. Then, they pour cider around the tree, singing and chanting follows to bless the orchard. Finally, they whack the tree with sticks, and yell until they “wake up” the tree. This is all done in hope of yielding a bountiful crop.?

The Epiphany?(also known as Three Kings Day) occurs on January 6, twelve days after Christmas when Christians celebrate the arrival of the Magi to Bethlehem.??Many families keep their Christmas trees up until this day. Once again, my tree (lights only) is going to stay up at least until my birthday at the end of April, maybe longer!??In Spain, Día?de Los?Reyes is celebrated just like a second Christmas, with feasting and the giving of presents. On the night of 5 January, children put out empty shoes, not stockings, to be filled with gifts from the kings.

In?Ethiopia, Christmas is called?Ganna (or Genna)?and it falls on?January 7th?according to the Ethiopian calendar.??People dress in white and attend church (some attend ancient churches carved out of rock). Everyone receives a candle as they enter the church and walk around the church three times with their lit candle.??After mass, boys play a game, also called?ganna, which is similar to hockey.?

Nanakusa-no-sekku, or simply?Nanakusa, is the?Japanese Festival of Seven Herbs?and is celebrated on?January 7th. During the Heian period (794-1192 B.C.E.), nanakusa-gayu, a rice-herb porridge, was served on the morning of January 7. It was believed that the herbs would remove evil from the body and prevent illness.?

On?January 14th, Japan?has another wonderful tradition associated with the New Year when?Kagami Biraki?is celebrated. Kagami-mochi, meaning?mirror rice cake, is a decoration consisting of two round mochi (rice cakes), the smaller placed on top of the larger, and a daidai (a Japanese bitter orange) on the very top. These decorative cakes are then displayed for a few days before being eaten on the 11th. By this time, the kagami-mochi has harden and cracked. It’s a good luck charm, so it’s not cut with a sharp object, but rather opened by hand or with a hammer. Kagami-biraki means?opening the mirror?and?brings good luck and prosperity in the new year.

Also known as Little Christmas and?Twentieth Day?or?Tyvendedagen, Scandinavians “plunder” their trees. All the decorations are taken down and the candies and cookies may be eaten. Finally, the tree is removed from the home. The origin of this celebration begins with a Danish Duke named Canute (Knut) Lavard who was assassinated by his cousin and rival on January 7, 1131. This led to a civil war and later to Knut being declared a saint. January 7 was his original name day. This day and Epiphany were too close together so in 1680,?Knut’s Day was moved to January 13th.??Known as Tjugondag jul (Twentieth Day Yule), Tjugondag Knut (Twentieth Day Knut), Knutomasso, or Nuutinp?iv? (Knut’s Day).

January 15th?is Makar Sankranti, also known as?Pongal or Sankaranthi;??a Hindu harvest festival celebrated in most parts of India, Nepal, and Bangladesh during the Magh month of the Nepali calendar. This festival dates back at least 1,000 years, and it’s celebrated in many different ways throughout the country. It announces spring and the coming of longer days. Special sweets and cakes are made, and they all contain jaggery (a type of sugar) and sesame seeds or nuts, making this festival particularly popular with children. In Gujarat, kites are flown. In Punjab, this festival is called?Lohri, and families gather around a bonfire and feast and dance. Sugarcane, rice, and sweets are tossed into the fire for the sun god.

Thai Pongal?is celebrated by Tamils (originating in Southern India and Sri Lanka). Pongal means “boiling over or spilling over.” Letting milk boil over is considered prosperous. Pongal is a harvest festival thanking the sun god, Surya, for a good crop year. Pongal, a local dish is cooked outdoors in the sun in a clay pot called a kollam that has be decorated with colorful patterns. It’s dedicated to the sun god and is served throughout the festival. Thai Pongal is celebrated over four days. However, cities typically only celebrate one day,?January 14.

January 16th?is Martin Luther King Day; typically celebrated on the third Monday of January in the United States, timed with King’s actual birthday on the 15th.??On this national holiday, the US celebrates the life and still incomplete Civil Rights journey that this great leader mobilized.

On?January 19th?in the Basque city of San Sebastian,?La Tamborrada?celebrates the world-famous Basque cuisine accompanied by thousands of people taking to the streets at midnight to begin a full 24 hours of wooden-barrel drum playing.

For the people of Scotland, and anyone of Scottish heritage?Burns Night, held on the?25th of January?this year, is one of the most important (and fun!) events of the year. The day celebrates the poems and songs of Robert Burns, with a celebration meal and festivities that includes poetry reading, singing, haggis and great whisky!??I always enjoy Burns Night!?

Dévote Day?falls on?January 27th?in Monaco.???Each year, the people of Monaco gather to celebrate Saint Devota and to symbolically burn a boat.??In Monaco, Saint Devota is the patron and protector of the Principality. This tradition manifests each year on the evening of the 26th?of January in the forecourt of the church of Sainte-Dévote where, after the procession of the relics and the salvation of the Blessed Sacrament, the burning of the boat by the Sovereign and members from his family takes place.??

Australia Day?is on the?26th of January?and celebrates the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the British.??On January 26,1788, Arthur Phillip, who had sailed into what is now Sydney Cove with a shipload of convicts, hoisted the British flag at the site.??The rest is history!

One of the most important celebrations across Asia starts early this year!??Chinese New Year?(or the Lunar New Year) 2023 earlier this year – on?January 22nd?and culminates with the Lantern Festival on February 9th!??This holiday is one of the reasons I started sharing Global Holidays and Traditions in the first place.??If you have customers, employees, or friends in Asia, you need to understand that this is THE holiday of the year, dwarfing almost all other celebrations.??And THIS year marks the?Year of the Rabbit!

When Westerners gaze at the moon, they may jokingly say that the moon is made out of cheese or that they see the Man in the Moon. When a Chinese person looks at the moon, however, they most certainly will see the Jade Rabbit standing under a cassia tree holding a precious elixir.

Like the Chinese zodiac itself, the legend of the Jade Rabbit has many different origin stories. One of the most common stories in China begins with the Jade Emperor disguising himself as a beggar. Once disguised, he embarks on a journey to find a worthy animal to help him prepare the elixir of life. In this tale, the Rabbit willingly attempts to sacrifice himself as food for the beggar by jumping into a fire. However, the Rabbit is saved by the Jade Emperor, who then carries the Rabbit to the moon where he helps create the elixir of life. Those looking for the Jade Rabbit will find his outline on the moon with his pestle and mortar, mixing the divine elixir to this day. According to this myth, the image seen on the surface of the moon is of a rabbit pounding out mochi rice cakes, not the elixir of life.

The Chinese Zodiac dates to the Qin Dynasty over 2000 years ago and is rooted in a system of zoolatry (or animal worship). As the legend goes, the Jade Emperor challenged all the animals in the Kingdom to a “Great Race.” Whoever arrived at his palace first would win his favor. The Tiger was sure that he had the race in the bag, but ended up placing third after the cunning Rat and workhorse Ox snuck in ahead of him. Thus, Tigers are extremely competitive people, known for their courage and ambition. Tigers are ambitious, but they’re also extremely generous with a drive to help others. Tigers want to win but they’re also always seeking justice.

There are many greetings for the Chinese New Year, depending on region and language and intended tone, even for the most basic “Happy New Year.”?The simplest is, of course,?Happy New Year:?新年快乐?(xīn nián kuài lè). In Cantonese-speaking regions, it’s more popular to say?恭喜发财?(gung hei faat coi). This is a blessing for wealth and prosperity. A variant of this phrase is also used in other regions (Mandarin: gong xǐ fā cái).?

January 22nd?also marks the Lunar New Year in many other Asian countries as well, each with their own special traditional difference, including?Seol-nai?in Korea,?Tet Nguyen Dan?in Vietnam (which celebrates the Year of the Cat in 2023).??It’s a time of incredible celebration Asia and one of my favorite times of the year!??

Happy New Year to all my friends celebrating the Year of the Rabbit!??

May your 2023 start off with a healthy and happy January!??