Brazilian traditions for the New Year and Hope



Fireworks - New Years Eve in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil



The New Year is coming.... and that has always been a very exciting period for me.

In Brazil, this is a big party, when all our hope for a better future is renovated.

Once I heard someone saying "this is rubbish, what changes at midnight?". Well, I would say: "perhaps nothing changes, but everything can change, if you want, of course".

Hope is a very powerful "tool". It is the hope that we can do things that makes us train, work, study ... to improve our lives. So what happens at midnight? At midnight we are given the opportunity to ponder about the last year (think about we have achieved, what we can do better, and what we want to change) and to renovate our hope for the future.

At this point we make a mental note of what we want to achieve.... and that is enough most of the time to make us progress, because it is a focus point.

When we believe things will improve, we act towards the objective, even in small day to day things, and everything makes a difference.

So.... Brazilian traditions for the New Year. We have a lot of them, and I thought it would be fun, and also inspiring to list some here:

1. Hope. This is really the most important tradition for a Brazilian New Year celebration. The idea that the new year will be better and that you can wish for what you want.

2. Happiness. We welcome the New Year with a big smile. I am sure that also makes life better.

3. Peace. The colours we wear for New Year's eve mean a lot for most of us.... white for peace, pink for love, red for passion, yellow for money, etc. Most of us will wear white! with our secret colour in our underwear ... if you are looking for love you may not wish to make that too obvious :) It is absolutely wonderful to watch the huge groups of people walking to the beach, all wearing white.... and even better when you think, we are all hoping for peace.

4. Fireworks.... this marks the celebration

5. To be at the beach - if possible of course.

6. Music: how can a Brazilian celebrate without music?


Now some more interesting ones:
7. Stay on the right foot at midnight... so you start the New Year with the right foot

8. Eat pomegranate... to bring good fortune

9. Eat 12 grapes ... again for good fortune

10. Eat lentils .... this must have come with the Italian immigrants who eat that believing it will bring money

11. Break a walnut and eat the nut at midnight, leaving the shelf re-shaped together. This will bring two together... for love.

12. Jump 7 small waves at the sea, making one wish for each wave. Then leave the sea walking backwards towards the beach - because you should not give your back to the sea. We believe jumping the waves means opening the way, the road. Seven in Canbomble represents Exu, the son of Iemanja.

13. Offer flowers, little boats. champagne to Iemanja. Iemanja comes from the African influence in Brazil. She is the Queen of the Sea and one of the seven orixas in Candomble and Umbanda religions. On New Year's eve many people offer her gifts by throwing them into the sea and asking for their wishes. I do like very much the idea of the Queen of the Sea, but I do not like the idea of throwing things into the sea, as they come back to the shore and hurt people, unfortunately (rose's thorn, glass bottles, etc).

14. Also for Iemanja, many people will lit candles in the sand, at the beach.

15. Drink a little bit of champagne and throw the rest behind you. This is to eliminate all the bad things that happened in the "old" year. It was funny once when we were at the beach in Rio and my friend ended up throwing champagne by accident in someone behind her. There were 2 million people in Copacabana!

16. You must greet someone of the opposite sex first. To bring love.

17. Put money under your foot at midnight. To bring money.

18. Always wear new underwear to bring luck and love.



So.... we do have a lot of traditions for this date.... you may believe in some or none of them....

The most important really is the renovation of hope and the belief that a better future can be achieved, so you will act towards that.

If I still didn't manage to persuade you, please watch the movie "The Shawshank Redemption". It is a wonderful lesson about hope and its meaning!


Happy New Year....

May your good wishes be true.