As the world prepares to bid farewell to 2025 and welcome 2026, many are seeking time-honored traditions to usher in good fortune, love, and prosperity in the coming year. Across cultures, New Year's Eve is steeped in rituals and superstitions designed to set the stage for a positive and fulfilling year ahead. Whether you're seeking luck, love, or money, here's a guide to some global New Year's rituals you might want to try.

For Luck

• The 12 Grapes of Luck: A popular custom in Spain and many Spanish-speaking countries involves eating 12 grapes at midnight, one for each chime of the clock. Each grape represents a wish for each month of the upcoming year. The key is to consume them quickly, making a wish with each grape, which is believed to attract abundance and happiness for the next twelve months. Some people take the ritual further by crouching under a table while eating the grapes, which is believed to help find love.
• Smashing a Pomegranate: In Greece and Turkey, smashing a pomegranate against the front door is a dramatic way to start the year. The more seeds that scatter, the more abundance and prosperity the family can expect in the coming year. The pomegranate has been a symbol of fertility, life, and good fortune in Greek culture since ancient times, making this a tradition rich with historical significance.
• Clean Sweep: In numerous cultures, sweeping the house before midnight symbolizes the removal of bad luck and negative energies. It's about tidying the physical space and freeing the soul from negative thoughts and feelings. However, avoid cleaning after midnight, as it's believed to wash away incoming luck.
• Open Doors and Windows: To let the old year and its bad luck out while welcoming in the new year, open all the doors and windows in your home before midnight. This is a common tradition in many cultures, like Irish and Scottish, and is sometimes thought to allow spirits of loved ones to join the celebration.
• Make Noise: Making loud sounds by banging pots and pans, blowing horns and whistles, ringing bells, and cheering and shouting is said to scare off evil spirits and prevent bad luck from entering the new year. In many cultures, the louder the start, the luckier the year.

For Love

• Red Underwear: In Spanish, Italian, and Chinese cultures, wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is believed to bring love and passion in the coming year. The color red symbolizes love, and wearing red lingerie is so popular that stores throughout Italy stock special displays of red lingerie in December.
• Kiss at Midnight: Kissing at the stroke of midnight is one of the most cherished New Year's traditions worldwide. It's not just about sealing the old year goodbye but also welcoming new possibilities for romantic love. The intimate moment extends to friends and family, reinforcing relationships and spreading positivity.
• Roses Under the Pillow: Before you go to bed on New Year's Eve, place a red rose or petals under your pillow. This romantic gesture is believed to ensure passionate dreams and draw love to you during the year.

For Money

• Keep Money in Your Wallet: Don't start the year with an empty wallet. Keeping money in your wallet on New Year's Eve is a common superstition believed to bring more abundance and financial prosperity in the year ahead.
• Wear Polka Dots: In the Philippines, many people ring in the new year wearing polka dot clothing because the round shapes symbolize money and good fortune. It's also a practice to put coins and round objects in pockets to add more good fortune.
• Eat Black-Eyed Peas and Collard Greens: This Southern tradition involves eating a meal of black-eyed peas and collard greens to bring good luck and prosperity in the new year. The black-eyed peas symbolize coins, while the greens represent paper money. For extra luck, serve some cornbread (which symbolizes gold) on the side.
• Lentils: Italians believe that eating lentils on New Year's Eve brings financial success in the new year. The round, coin-shaped lentils symbolize money and prosperity, and eating them at midnight is believed to ensure financial success.
• Money in Shoes: Some add a coin to their right shoe to ensure continuous good fortune throughout the year. In Latin American cultures, placing coins in your shoe or hiding money around the house invites wealth inside.

Other Traditions

• Carry an Empty Suitcase: In parts of Latin America, people take a walk around their house or around the block at midnight with an empty suitcase, focusing on all the places they want to visit in the new year. This tradition is believed to attract travel and adventure in the coming year.
• First Footer: In the UK and Scotland, the "first-footing" tradition dictates that the first person to enter a home in the new year can influence the household's luck for the entire year. Ideally, this should be someone with a good nature and gentle disposition, and they often bring gifts such as honey, wine, or sweets to ensure sweetness in the coming year.
• Jump into the New Year: According to Danish tradition, jumping off furniture as the clock strikes 12 will bring good luck as you 'leap into the new year'.

Whether these traditions are rooted in ancient superstitions or simply offer a sense of hope and renewal, they provide a fun and meaningful way to welcome 2026. As you prepare for the New Year, consider which of these global rituals resonate with you and embrace them with intention and a positive mindset.