The one day that is celebrated with aplomb the world over is the time when we all bid adieu to the going year at midnight and welcome the New Year with much enthusiasm. People let loose and take part in the celebrations which mark the beginning of new times and so on New Year’s Eve, it actually becomes quite imperative for all of us to enjoy in whatever way we can.
If you think dancing away the entire night on New Year’s Eve is a crazy way to ring in the new year, then you are about to get a few surprises before this year actually ends on the Calendar. For we have for you a list of weird traditions that are followed by people of these countries to welcome the New Year.
1 In Romania, people dance in bearskins
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Between Christmas and New Year, Romanians dance so that the evil spirits of the world are chased away. But the weird element in this dancing tradition is that men and women dress up in real bear skins with a thick red tassel and mostly with a metal ring that is put into the animal’s nose. This tradition actually started a few centuries ago, when nomadic Roma used to bring their pet bears and used to force them to dance. No one exactly knows when this switch was done, which made people wear the skins of the bear. The dancing troupe goes on about the town to homes and restaurants, all the while dancing and singing to basically chase away the evil spirits of the year gone by.
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2People burn Effigies in Ecuador
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Taking large straw and paper dolls, people of Ecuador, come onto the streets and burn the effigies on New Year’s Eve. The figures can be the ones made by the families, but basically the parade that shows up on the streets have giant float-like figures of celebrities or prominent politicians. The figures can also be of fictional characters like that of the Spiderman or Spongebob. Though, the tradition now is associated to symbolically cleansing the bad elements of the old year, initially the tradition had started because of the need to burn the clothes of the infected. In fact, for more fortune, some people even jump across the flames twelve times.
Image Source: www.dailymail.co.uk