New Year all over

MANILA, Philippines - Every country has a different way of shooing away the bad juju every first of January. Here are five traditions from different parts of the world that might just pique your interest. Who knows, you might even pick up a new tradition or two.

PERU

While this tradition doesn’t exactly happen on New Year’s Eve, it’s still a pretty cool practice to do. Takanakuy is an annual practice in the Chumbivilcas Province in Peru to settle old conflicts with the community through a fistfight. Yep, a fistfight. We just hope that they practice “forgive and forget” after this one. 

BELGIUM AND ROMANIA

People of Belgium and Romania communicate with their livestock, wishing them all a Happy New Year on Jan. 1. They believe that animals have the ability to speak on this day. While this is pretty farfetched, it’s believed to be bad luck if the farmers actually understand what the animals are saying.

PUERTO RICO

Puerto Ricans, much like Filipinos, love a hefty serving of food on New Year’s Day. What they don’t love are evil spirits. And to drive them away, they throw buckets of water outside the house. Next time you visit the country on Jan. 1, make sure you look up before walking forward to avoid getting drenched.

SPAIN

The big New Year’s countdown is a big deal in every country, but in Spain, it’s an integral part of the year ahead. For prosperity in the next year, they eat a grape every time the bell strikes during the last 12 seconds of the year. Sounds delicious.

MEXICO

Forget polka dots. In Mexico, colored underwear is an essential during the New Year’s Eve celebrations. Each color signifies luck in one aspect of your life. Wearing red underwear is said to bring you love while yellow underwear will make you lucky.