Weird New Year's Eve dinner customs around the world
Bulgaria: I like the first person to sneeze. If you eat New Year's Eve dinner at a Bulgarian home, you must sneeze. You will get unexpected benefits. Local custom believes that the first person to sneeze will bring happiness to the whole family for a year. So the owner walked to his farm and brought the first sheep, calf, or foal he first saw, and gave it to the first guest who sneezed.
Madagascar: Meat is forbidden. Meat is not allowed here for 7 days before the New Year. You can't eat some poultry until New Year's Eve dinner. On New Year's Day, the couple will present cocktails to both parents to show respect, and present chicken legs to brothers and sisters to express concern and friendship.
India: Hungry, Indians practice fasting on New Year's Day, from early morning until midnight. After midnight, families taste the prepared meals and congratulate each other on the New Year.
Philippines: At New Year's Eve dinner in the Philippines, everyone has to "work together and cook chicken rice together." The people of this country always like to eat chickens. The most interesting thing is that those who can get the head of a rooster are called "the first to be known to others"; those who get the head of a hen means "many sons and many chickens (auspicious)"; even those who get the chicken ribs will call it "delicious food"; those who get the eggs are "round and full".
Poland: Eat green vegetables. Polish girls wear special rabbit-shaped clothes to eat green vegetables during the New Year. It is said that everything goes well with hard vegetables.
Paraguay: No fireworks, Paraguay people in South America have designated the last five days of the end of the year as cold food days. In these five skies, from the head of state down to the common people, no fireworks were used and only cold food was eaten. Only after the bell rings at zero o'clock in the New Year can we start lighting up the fire to cook delicious food and have a big banquet to celebrate the New Year.
Vietnam: Drinking soup is prohibited. On New Year's Eve, some ethnic minorities in northern Vietnam have to go to places where they usually collect water to burn incense, kowtow, and get a bucket of water to cook New Year's Eve dinner. After cooking, they will pay homage to their ancestors, and then the whole family will have New Year's Eve dinner. Soup is absolutely prohibited during this meal. They believe that the crops planted after drinking the soup will be flooded and no crops will be harvested.
Hungary: Avoid eating birds because they think that if they eat birds, their luck will fly away in the coming year. Most of the gifts they send to relatives and friends during the New Year, they like to have pictures of chimney cleaners and little fat pigs on them. The chimney cleaners are a symbol of removing the old, and the plump pigs are festive.
Japan: As the New Year's Eve bell rings 108, families compete to eat long noodles. It is said that people in this island country believe that whoever has the longest noodles will have good luck in the coming year. Moreover, the size of luck is proportional to the length of the noodle.
Brazil: A very rare "golden birch fruit" is a specialty in the mountains and forests. People regard it as a symbol of happiness and good fortune. Every New Year, when the New Year's Eve bell rings, thousands of people pour out of their homes, holding high torches, humming songs, and crowded into the nearby mountains and forests. Everyone is scrambling to find and share the "golden birch fruit" and wish each other luck in the coming year with this "specialty New Year's goods".