How our Zebras welcome the New Year from around the world
With over 20 different nationalities at MegaZebra, we are never short of cultural surprises. To welcome in the New Year, we decided to explore how our Zebra’s celebrate this joyous occasion in their respective cultures. From round fruits to carefully selected underwear colours, here are some of the weird yet wonderful ways our Zebra’s bring in the New Year.
Circles Everywhere: Philippines
Filipinos are said to be some of the most superstitious people in Asia. According to our resident Filipino, the custom passed down through generations is to gather 12 different round shaped fruits. Each fruit represents a month of the year whilst the round shape is a representation of prosperity and wealth. Some locals even wear clothes with polka dots and carry around pockets filled with round coins throughout the celebration.
Colourful Underwear: Brazil and Turkey
During the countdown to December 31st, stores stock their shelves with red lingerie. In Turkey, red lingerie almost sells out completely. A tradition dating back to middle ages, red underwear is worn only on NYE as a symbol of good luck. Any other day it is seen as a colour associated with evil, but on NYE bring out the scarlet pants!
Apparently wearing specific coloured undergarments are not only a Turkish tradition but also a tradition seen in Brazil. The colour of your underwear is meant to influence your luck in the coming year. Wearing red underwear is supposed to bring passion, pink underwear love, white underwear peace and green underwear luck.
It looks like it’s time to whip out that credit card and go shopping! Although the mystery remains, what would rainbow underwear bring us?
12 Grapes of luck: Spain
Our Spaniard explains this rather delicious “las doce uvas de la suerte” tradition. What started off as a way for grape farmers to pass on their excess grapes over a century ago has now developed into a cherished Spanish tradition. The challenge is to eat a grape to each stroke of the clock at midnight. Each of “las doce uvas de la suerte” (the 12 lucky grapes) represent one month of good luck. If you complete the challenge, you are given a full year of fortune. Fall short, and you may just have to be EXTRA nice to receive a gift on Halloween or Christmas!
Pouring Lead to seal your fate: Germany
Last but not least, in Germany, “Bleigiessen” (lead pouring) is a New Year’s tradition that determines the future of the person for the year to come. A spoon holding small chunks of lead are held over a candle until fully melted. The molten lead is then quickly poured into a bowl of cold water where it hardens almost immediately taking form of obscure shapes. The shape of the cooled lead, “bleifiguren”, each hold a different meaning which the Germans interpret as their future for the year ahead.
Happy New Year!
