New Year’s Eve
St. Sylvester’s Day
The New Year is Rung In with a Raucous Cheer
About New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve, the night when champagne flows freely, resolutions tentatively take shape, and “Auld Lang Syne” becomes the universal anthem. You can either join the ranks of the revelers, counting down the final seconds with confetti and cheers, or enjoy some time alone, curling up with a great book and letting the world turn without you. Whichever path you choose, the spirit of renewal and hope defines the evening. And if you’ve never experienced the glamour of a New Year’s ball or gala, consider making tonight the night. It’s an unforgettable way to celebrate the turning of the calendar. For those less inclined to formal attire, take a cue from St. Sylvester’s Day, often associated with quirky celebrations in various parts of the world, and infuse the evening with unexpected traditions of your own.
Ways to observe
(A) Low effort
Watch the ball drop from the comfort of your couch, blanket burrito style.
(B) Recommended
Invite a few close friends over for a cozy, themed dinner party. Incorporate New Year’s traditions from around the world, like eating grapes at midnight (Spain) or jumping into the New Year from chairs (Denmark).
(C) High effort
Host a full-blown masquerade ball. Rent a venue, send out invites, and insist on formal attire. At midnight, reveal identities with dramatic flair as confetti cannons go off!
Inspiration
New Year’s is a double-edged letdown: I haven’t accomplished enough to look back with pride, but I’ve also embarrassed myself just slightly less than would require fleeing to West Virginia under a new name. So, not a disaster, not a triumph. I might be able to coast through New Year’s Eve in peace, if not for the lunatics who look forward to it. I can’t stand their hopeful, bright-eyed faces. Don’t they realize we still have a million weeks of winter ahead? Eat my ill-fitting gala pants, you radiant, optimistic losers. Of course, most people actually feel exactly the same way I do. They’re ambivalent about the future, seething with contempt for the well-adjusted, and despairing over their formalwear. By the time midnight rolls around, nearly everyone just wants to eat a sleeve of cheesy Ritz
Yuletide (12 Days of Christmas) crackers, drink something sparkly, and shuffle home with their dignity intact. But for those who want more, or need a distraction from the yawning chasm of the year ahead, the world has provided. A couple of examples: In Scotland, torchlight parades mark Hogmanay, and the first person through your door after midnight is supposed to bring luck (try to time your guests accordingly). In Japan, temples ring their bells 108 times to shake off the previous year’s missteps. Brazilians wear white and toss flowers to the sea goddess Iemanjá. And then there’s St. Sylvester’s Day as it’s celebrated in Switzerland. It features Pope Sylvester, Emperor Constantine, molten metal, and parades of mossy forest beasts and glittering “time spirits” roaming the snowy streets. It is ridiculous. And if I ever save up the cash, I’m going. These are my people.
Adornments
Watch
The Apartment (1960)
A bittersweet romantic comedy-drama by Billy Wilder, set in a wintry New York, that builds to one of cinema’s most heartwarming New Year’s Eve scenes. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine portray lonely souls finding connection at midnight; after a night of revelations, their story closes with an unforgettable New Year’s embrace and the famous last line, “Shut up and deal.”
The Irony of Fate (1976)
A Soviet holiday classic (originally a TV film) that millions rewatch every December 31 across Russia. This charming screwball romance follows a man who, after too much vodka at the banya, accidentally flies to Leningrad and stumbles into a stranger’s apartment with the same address as his own.
Listen
Un año más by Mecano
A Spanish pop classic that has become the New Year’s Eve song in Spain. Un año más (“One More Year”) is broadcast just after the midnight grapes are eaten in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol.
Auld Lang Syne (Traditional)
Based on traditional folk lyrics collected and refined by poet Robert Burns in 1788, the tune has become the international soundtrack for midnight.
Eat
Twelve Grapes
As the clock strikes midnight on Nochevieja (New Year’s Eve), celebrants across Spain and many Latin American countries undertake a playful culinary countdown. Tradition calls for twelve grapes, one for each chime of the clock. Each grape represents a month, and finishing all twelve before the last bell rings is believed to usher in a year of good luck and prosperity.