8 Interesting New Year Traditions From Lifehacker Readers

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In search of a New Year's mood, we asked you to tell us about New Year's traditions, without which you cannot imagine this holiday. Here they are.

1. Go around the house outside in a circle with a suitcase in hand

I have Ecuadorian roots. I have been living in Russia for many years, but I consider it important to observe some of the traditions common in my homeland. It is customary there before the New Year to run around the house with a suitcase in hand. Then, according to the sign, the next 365 days will be rich in travel.

I think it's a fun tradition! My Russian friends were surprised when I offered them such a run, but some of them supported me. As a result, coincidence or not, it was with them that we went to Altai in the summer.

But in December 2019, I got sick and decided not to run around the house. And what do you think? Quarantine has come and travel is really not possible!

2. Make an advent calendar

To revive that childish anticipation of the holiday inside, a month before the New Year we make an advent calendar with small tasks or gifts. It consists of 31 envelopes - according to the number of days in December. Every morning you open one of them, and your mood improves a little!

This year, thanks to a task from the Advent calendar, we have a new tradition - for the first time we will prepare a sweet dessert for the New Year's table!

3. Buy a Christmas toy

My husband and I have a relatively young family, but we already have our own tradition. When we started living together, I bought a bunch of Christmas balls, and after the first New Year, my parents gave us another set of toys.

All this did not fit on the Christmas tree, but it was difficult to refuse to buy new decorations. Every year before the holidays, everything in stores is so bright and beautiful... Yes, and you have to take the New Year mood from somewhere!

Therefore, we decided to buy only one New Year's toy with the symbol of the year. Definitely made of glass, not plastic - after all, the first ones are much prettier!

We have already found balloons with a dog, a pig, a rooster, a tiger, a mouse and a cow. However, through the efforts of our cat, some will have to be updated. So, perhaps, this tradition will not last for 12 years, as in the Eastern calendar, but much longer.

4. cooking mustard

I make mustard for every New Year! So sharp that when I open a jar in the kitchen, my husband in the other room starts crying. This tradition appeared, one might say, consciously.

My husband and I don’t really like the New Year: a lot of fuss, the results of the year are usually so-so... Plus, in our city on December 31, it often rains instead of snow. Not a particularly fabulous weather phenomenon.

And five years ago we decided to cook jelly for the festive table. The husband complained that the mustard from the store was so-so, not spicy. I suggested doing it myself. After all, in my family, mustard was prepared exclusively by themselves.

On Lifehacker, I found a recipe similar to our family. It was temptingly called "Hot Mustard". I did. It turned out such a fiery product that it knocks out tears from everyone within a radius of several meters!

Since then, we decided to cook mustard exclusively for the New Year. Because we understood: we have no traditions for this holiday. So let it be!

5. Sculpt dumplings

For as long as I can remember, my family and I have loved to make dumplings. On December 29–30, preparations began in the evening. Mom kneaded the dough, I twisted the filling in a meat grinder - thank God, now it is automatic, but all my childhood I did it manually! We sculpt, as a rule, a lot, so that it is enough for the first half of the January holidays.

I think this tradition appeared in our family from my mother's suggestion, from her childhood. After all, even now, when I visit my grandmother in another region, the first thing that is served to the table is dumplings.

My childhood was spent in Tatarstan. Here we bend the ends of the dumplings to get a classic round shape. At my grandmother’s in the Perm Territory, they don’t combine them, and because of this, dumplings resemble dumplings. I have always found them delicious! At home, I often asked my mother to make a party in the form of "crescents".

We almost never make dumplings with a surprise. Didn't stick. Although in childhood it happened that dough was put in one dumpling from a batch instead of meat. But it only sounds interesting, but in fact it does not go to any comparison with the rest.

I know that they put both coins and berries in the “happy dumpling”. But the first option is traumatic, the second is without intrigue, since the berry immediately stains the dough.

Dumplings are still the most solemn and festive food for me. That's probably why I don't buy them in the store anymore. It seems to me that equating dumplings with fast food or treating them like bachelor's food humiliates their high status.

6. Do not decorate the house

It all started with a tree. We had a white artificial tree - we really liked it. When it fell into disrepair, we postponed the purchase until the last. As a result, December 31 was left without a Christmas tree.

We decided: this year we will not decorate! And where there is one year, there is a second, and a third... As a result, it has become a tradition. This approach does not deprive the New Year mood - there are a lot of garlands and other decorations outside.

Because of this, we, on the contrary, began to get out of the house more often - to walk and just admire the lights of the night city. At this time, the street is unreal beauty. There is a feeling that those same red trucks are about to pass by!

Returning home at the same time is perceived as something soothing - as if you are switching to the "Without Constant Flickering of Garlands".

7. Eat 12 grapes while the chimes are chiming

I am married to a Spaniard. Their culture has a funny tradition: while the chimes announce the New Year, you need to have time to eat 12 grapes - one for each beat! Then the year will supposedly be successful.

8. Wash before the new year

We always meet the New Year clean. To make washing more pleasant, I bought an Italian bath washcloth made from natural materials.

I bought a mitten made of horsehair and sisal aloe for dry peeling, cleansing and rejuvenation of the skin, removing excess subcutaneous fat.

I also bought a sponge with a cotton sponge for cleaning and rejuvenating the skin of the face. It removes old cells, unevenness and relieves acne, blackheads and enlarged pores.

In general, even if you don’t really want to wash, in the end you do it with pleasure! You cleanse the body before the New Year to enter it renewed.

This tradition is especially relevant now. 2023 is the year of the Water Rabbit, who loves water very much!