10 New Year's traditions that we began to forget (but in vain!)

1. Go to the forest for pine cones

Peter I brought to Russia not only the tradition of celebrating the New Year from 31st to 1st, but also the ritual of decorating houses and streets with fir and juniper branches. It's time to remember it! In order not to harm nature, breaking and cutting the branches of healthy trees is not worth it, but you can collect cones and make outdoor eco-decorations out of them.

Cones and spruce branches among the Germanic peoples were symbols of the gifts of forest fairies. They even predicted the weather from them: the open foreshadowed the sun and warmth, the closed ones - rain and snow. It was also believed that cones cleanse the house of diseases and negative energy. But even for those who do not believe in such things, it will be useful to walk through the coniferous forest - stretch your legs and refresh your head.

2. Go through things and get rid of trash

The meaning of tradition is the meditative cleansing of the house from unnecessary things. You can go through the dishes and send the chipped cups for recycling, empty the drawer of household items and remove the rags. Disassemble cabinets and shelves, check the expiration dates of cereals, sort out old papers. All this is interesting to do with the whole family. Surely, among the forgotten things, old family photos, gift cards, souvenirs from trips will surface - there are often touching stories behind all of this. And celebrating the New Year in an apartment cleared of trash is doubly pleasant.

Plus, good but unnecessary things can be sent to charity. Donate expensive shoes, bought exclusively for going to a friend's wedding, or a beautiful dress of the wrong size. And books and toys left unattended in your home should be sent to institutions for children.

3. Prepare costumes

New Year's masquerade is not only fun for children's matinees and Christmas trees. Whether you are celebrating New Years with your family or with a noisy company of friends, the costume contest is appropriate everywhere. It can be dedicated to the animals of the Chinese calendar or the motives of your favorite films. Events of the past year can also become a topic: everyone dresses up in the style of an important day for themselves, and the rest must guess what the costume is talking about. You can simply choose a common color scheme for all, or create characters for each other in "The Sims" in advance and give the task to repeat the resulting image. It's also fun to collect printed photos of stars, put in a bag or hat, pull out one at a time and recreate the costumes for your holiday.

4. Make treats with wishes

Whether you cut out fruit figurines, make zucchini rolls with cheese, or bake wholesome wholemeal cookies, the menu can be anything you want. The main thing is to cook together. Alternatively, you can make canapes from vegetables and olives, or beautifully wrap feta in slices of red fish. It is convenient to make penguins and snowmen from quail eggs, and a thinly sliced ​​cucumber can be laid in a Christmas tree like an accordion.

Attach a toothpick to each figurine in a dish, or just put a piece of paper wrapped in foil on top with wishes. If you don't want to spend a lot of energy on cooking, you can simply hide your wishes somewhere on the festive table or in the house and then hunt for them. The one who collects the most will win. And you can read good messages with the chimes, so the year will definitely start with good vibes.

5. Arrange fortune-telling

The theme is more of a Christmas one, but it will be quite appropriate for any of the evenings of the New Year holidays. There are many fortune-telling in Russian traditions, so you won't have to prepare for a long time. If there are candles at home, you can pour wax figures on the water. Mirrors - guessing at the betrothed. Playing cards and even onions are also useful. Fortune telling on onions is long-term: you need to plant it in the ground and wait. Whose bulb releases arrows faster, he will be the first to meet his love.

To make guessing even more interesting, you can create suitable decorations. Choose a room where the curtains close tightly, arrange clothes - for example, dress in all black or wear traditional costumes. You can bring old school diaries, photo albums and notebooks to the meeting and look not only into the future, but also into the past. Nostalgia itself creates a cozy atmosphere.

6. Make a map of desires

Get together in a circle and make lists of what you would like to wish your loved ones. To make it more interesting, you can pave the route of goals for the next year to your friends and family. But there is one important rule here: you need to write about something specific. Then in a year it will be possible to get together with the same line-up and present the most successful performer of his route with some kind of comic prize.

Here, too, it is important to create a special atmosphere: select the background music in advance, while everyone is writing, print out comfortable New Year's letterheads, buy a chest or a beautiful box for "cards" and arrange a ritual to solemnly seal your "capsule" time ". In general, such a tradition can be made personal, so that each year you motivate yourself to achieve specific goals in the next.

7. Visit grandparents

If all safety measures are observed, dress up as Santa Clauses and Snow Maidens, buy tea sets and visit your family. New Year's holidays are a great time to escape from the hustle and bustle and pay attention to those whom we forget at work and business. You can bring your favorite cake to your grandparents or surprise them with lunch from a trendy restaurant.

At the table, ask to talk about their childhood and youth. What traditions were there in the family in past generations, where your parents, uncles and aunts celebrated the New Year, what funny stories happened to them in winter. Such a family history tour is a soulful event that can become a good tradition. And, perhaps, someday it will reach you in the future! When, on New Year's holidays, your own children and grandchildren knock on your door with a cake and a fancy lunch.

8. Tell poetry under the tree

It's too early to laugh: this is not just a kindergarten tradition. She develops memory and gives sincere laughter to everyone around her, and also creates a New Year's Eve scenario for you. Someone will learn a children's song, someone will chant Mayakovsky, someone will rap - it will be fun anyway. After reading the poems, you can arrange an award ceremony and choose the winners. Alternatively, come up with different nominations for the number of participants so that there are no losers in the competition. For example, “The Loudest Voice”, “Forgot the words, but got out of it”, “Yesenin's Double”, “Reflection of the Year” or the laconic “Round!”. And for creative companies, you can complicate the conditions and offer to compose your own poems. A great way to find out if there is a secret Pushkin in the company, writing his masterpieces "on the table".

9. Ice skating and snowball shootouts

Sport is one of the healthiest habits, and there are many options for winter games and active leisure. You can build snow bases, play a winter version of paintball with colored snowballs, or host a snowman competition. If you want to admire the views of the beautified city, head to the ice rink and spin on the ice under the glitter of festive garlands. You can also go skiing to a nearby park, snowboarding, or visit a husky farm and go dog sledding.

You can arrange bouncers to feel like a carefree student on your winter break. snowballs, toboggan races and play "King of the Hill" - choose a snowdrift and fight for its top with friends. Especially brave ones even play football in the snow: you can simplify the rules and allow you to play with your hands or cancel the goalkeepers. If a large company is not recruited, it does not matter. Ice skating and photo hunting for snowflakes and winter landscapes are great activities that are suitable for a solo winter weekend.

10. Write letters

To print, write, or even record by voice - the essence of the tradition is to share your emotions and hopes with those closest to you. On New Year's Eve, you can play Intuition: guests of the holiday write letters in advance, envelopes with them are hung on the tree, and then they are opened one at a time. Task: to guess the author of an open letter. If the match does not occur, the wrong person takes a penalty forfeit. You can also record a hymn for the next year: let all the guests utter their wishes with "voices", and then someone will bring them down into one track.

Those who are bolder can share what they have written with strangers. Sending letters with small souvenirs to random addresses is not only a cool idea for a family or friendship tradition, but a whole movement. Sending cards to other people is called postcrossing, and this movement is popular all over the world. You can request an address for sending a New Year's card on a special website. In return, you, too, will most likely receive a postcard - perhaps from the opposite point of the planet. It's like playing Secret Santa, but with the whole world.