New Year Celebration Recipes Food Cooking International Guide
New Year Celebration With Family And Close Friends
By Katerina Octanova
Our earliest immigrants from Europe brought the traditional New
Year celebration with them, which held that family and friends
must gather together to welcome prosperity for the coming year.
It was a common practice for households to list the hours their
homes would be "open" -- serving food and drink to visitors
-- during the first day of the new year, which unfortunately invited
many hooligans from the streets, causing the practice to be dropped
by the end of the 19th century.
From then on, only close family members and friends would gather
together to celebrate New Years festivities. If you’re planning
an intimate gathering of your own, then consider incorporating
some tradition to make the event more meaningful.
Bursting Out With "Auld Lang Syne"
At the stroke of midnight, it’s not uncommon for all English-speaking
countries to bust out into song. "Should old acquaintance
be forgot and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be
forgot and old lang syne?"
If you want to add a traditional signing of "Auld Lang Syne"
to your New Year celebration, you will first need to select which
version you’d like to sing. There is a Scottish version, one written
in 1711 by James Watson and one written in 1788 by Robert Burns.
The New Year Has Arrived
From the thirties through the seventies, band leader Guy Lombardo
and His Royal Canadians played the song at the stroke of midnight
on New Years each year during their Waldorf Astoria Hotel performances,
so he is credited with popularizing the traditional song in North
America.
Life Magazine went so far as to say, "If Lombardo failed
to play ‘Auld Lang Syne,’ the American public would not believe
that the new year had really arrived."
Turn On The TV To Watch The Ball Drop In Times Square
As the New Year party progresses, you can add ambiance by turning
on the television to watch the ball drop in Times Square. The
anticipation of the countdown often gets people in a more excitable
mood.
Make sure to have your champagne toasts and noisemakers ready
for that countdown too! MTV also hosts a countdown of the year’s
best songs and videos all day long, which is fun to watch in the
background. Board games tournaments are fun to play at a New Year’s
party, as are old classics like poker and charades.
Wine Glass Charms For Your Guests
If you have kids, then part of your New Year celebration can
be spent making New Year’s Eve crafts. Have your kids help you
put together New Years wine glass charms for guests coming over
later.
These decorative tags can help people tell which glass is theirs
in a sea of beverages. They can also assist in making confetti
poppers out of balloons and tiny bits of paper. Kids love making
decorative signs for all the guests to see as well. You may want
to create a good luck New Years piñata made out of Papier-mâché
and fill it with candies for the kids.
A simple shopping trip to the dollar store or a party supply
shop can provide your kids with noisemakers, prizes and New Year
hats for a really fun celebration.
About the Author:
Katerina Octanova has written a number of articles on food and
cooking including Christmas
Gift Baskets, The
Christmas, Christmas,
Santa
Claus, Christmas
Gift Food, Christmas
Hamper, Christmas
Gift For The Office, Christmas
Gift Idea For Family.
Keep a lookout for more of her articles on this website.
Did You Know This About New Years Eve?
What are the origins of New Years Eve celebrations?
The origins of New Years Eve celebrations
seem to be conflicted. The reason it is celebrated is because
it marks the last day of the Gregorian calendar. Some historians
believe that the night’s celebrations go back to a pagan festivity
called "Saturnalia" which can trace its roots back to Ancient
Rome.
The practice was generally one of "letting
everything go" which for many meant abandoning their strict roles
and behaviors they held throughout the year. It became a party
in which people were free to do as they wished. As time progressed
many of these parties ended in violence as party goers would become
more intoxicated.
For this reason many cities and countries
started hosting what they termed "First Night" which was a solemn
way to celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the
next. Another tradition came called Watch Night.
Though many in the African American community
attribute this belief to their own culture it actually evolved
from a Christian group called the Moravians which was held in
Herrnhut, Saxony in 1732.
But in 1862 New Year’s Eve became celebrated
by African Americans with new found vigor because as of January
1, 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation became in effect. So for
many former slaves NYE became known as "Freedom’s Eve."
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