Gone-by New Year’s Eves

The last day of the year is always full of expectations, because the New Year might keep so many things: long-forgotten dreams, resolutions, bucket lists turn up and it is also a good feeling to close down and make an account of your achievements reached so far. A wide palette of traditions is related to the New Year’s Eve. According to superstitions, it is that time when you can do the most for your success in the New Year.

Hungarian people compose their menus very carefully this time. Not surprisingly, they eat lentil or roasted piglet, because lentil means wealth, while the New Year’s piglet is believed to bring luck.

It is not only the food, but also the drink that has an important role.Champagneor sparkling wine bottles go bang at midnight, which is also connected to a superstition. The drink you have in the New Year’s first minutes is going to be your drink in the whole year: rich and luxurious as the champagne.
Lovers who are apart from each other should spill a bit of champagne on the floor before clinking glasses with the others in order to be together during the whole year. Certain traditions also say that spilling something on the ground this time means that the money will roll in during the whole year.

Bóléivás - 1918. január 1. - Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum, CC BY-NC-ND Making loud noises also has an important role on this day. Originally, it was done to keep off the evil and the hex. The tools are varied: bullwhip, horn, bell, clapper bell (in the old times), firecracker and horn nowadays, which make your pets have the jitters. You should be careful with pyrotechnics, because your amusement might become a terrifying nightmare for them.

Take care of one another and have a pleasant nostalgic experience with the following newsreels and photos on the last day of the year.

The Digital Collections Department of MaNDA wishes a happy and successful New Year to all its dear Partners and Readers!
Translated by Zita Aknai

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