New Year’s Eve celebrations all over the world generally include rambunctious parties and much drunken revelry as people say goodbye to the departing year and welcome the New Year with much hope and a spate of New Year’s resolutions. The New Year’s Eve night parties are some of the most highly anticipated bashes of the year for which people usually buy sparkly new clothes and make all sorts of elaborate arrangements to ensure that they have the absolute best time at the grandest party of the year.
The American city of Boston also celebrates New Year’s Eve in a similar fashion but apart from its clubs and restaurants who have special parties for the night Boston also hosts a grand arts festival which is known as First Night Boston from 1pm on the 31st of December until midnight at various indoor and outdoor locations all over the city of Boston.
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New Year’s Eve is celebrated with much fanfare in most countries of the world. In fact the celebrations in certain cities like New York and Sydney are legendary and attract hordes of tourists each year. The Scottish city of Edinburgh which is renowned for its many year round festivals is right up there with these cities in terms of its New Year’s celebrations which in fact last for four days. The end of the year festivities in Edinburgh are collectively known as Hogmanay and this year end festival consists of a plethora of events like a Torch light procession, a street party, Ceilidih music concerts, sporting events etc. Hogmanay begins on the 29th of December each year and continues well into the first day of the New Year.
Highlights of this year’s Hogmanay
The Winter Wonderland
The end of the year celebrations actually kick off in Edinburgh on the 28th of December with the advent of the scintillating Edinburgh Winter Wonderland which takes place in the gorgeous East Princess Street Gardens that are beautifully decked up with thousands of sparkling lights for the grand party. The Winter Wonderland has something for all the family with its many ice rinks, snowball cars and its snow slide, bungy dome and children’s rides. This Winter Wonderland also has stalls that sell traditional ‘Christmassy’ treats like mince pies, mulled wine and other hot foods and beverages. This year the Winter Wonderland will feature a cabaret called White Magic which will feature acts to entertain visiting adults like Australia’s premier drag act Drags Aloud.
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The Northern European country of Iceland celebrates the festival of Christmas in almost the same way as it is celebrated in other countries. However Iceland also has certain unique Christmas traditions which are not be found elsewhere for instance the Icelandic term for Christmas is Jól, which has no reference to Christ or Christianity rather it is an Old Norse word which also translates as Yule in Old English. Christianity spread to Iceland only about 1000 years ago until then the people of Iceland and those of other countries in Northern Europe used to only celebrate the winter solstice which marked the beginning of the long winter nights and shorter hours of daylight. The festivities to mark the winter solstice were usually quite grand and involved much eating drinking and merrymaking. After the advent of Christianity in Iceland the celebrations to mark the winter solstice have got intermingled with the celebration of the birth of Christ.
Today Icelanders celebrate Christmas on the evening of December 24th keeping in line with the Old Catholic custom when people would have a wake the night before the big Church holidays So for Icelanders thus Christmas officially begins at 6pm on the 24th of December and continues until the 6th of January which is the day when all Christmas decorations are removed from the streets and homes.
The celebration of Christmas in Iceland also features a unique and typically Icelandic feature which is the appearance of the 13 Yuletide lads from December 12th onwards. These Yuletide lads are the descendants of trolls and are in no way related to the jolly old man known the world over as Santa Claus. These trolls were originally bogeymen who first appeared on the Icelandic Christmas scene in the eighteenth century. Initially they used to terrify children with their pranks though in recent times they seem have mellowed down but they still like to pilfer and play tricks on little children. Moreover when these trolls who are known as “jólasveinar” first appeared they used to be dressed in ragged clothing but nowadays they are usually attired in red suits and black boots. read more
Animated Christmas Markets announce the festive season in many cities and towns all over Europe nowadays. These Christmas Markets first originated in northern Europe and are immensely popular in countries like Austria and Germany. The Christmas markets signal the beginning of Advent or the season of the Christian Church which announces the coming of Christ. Roman Catholics believe Advent commences on the fourth Sunday before the 25th of December i.e. in the last week of November and hence it is during this period that these wonderful Christmas markets are held in several towns and cities all over Europe. In Sweden, Germany and Austria different colored candles are also lit to announce the start of Advent.
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The festival of Christmas in North America is celebrated with as much fanfare as in other parts of the world. The festive season here too features much good food, shopping, gift-giving and much merry making. However in several parts of the USA, Christmas is celebrated during the same season as other holidays like Hannukah and Kwanzaa as a result of which the festive season is often referred to as the Holiday Season with ‘Happy Holidays’ being the popular greeting that is exchanged at this time as it encompasses all the various groups who celebrate major festivals at this time of the year.
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