Trivia Tuesday: New Year’s Traditions

Happy New Year!

For those of us in the United States, the celebration of a new year is ripe with traditions. Whether in person or via television, we watch the giant ball drop in New York’s Times Square and at the stroke of midnight we turn to the ones we love to offer them a celebratory kiss. Then, of course, we break out into the old Scottish tune “Auld Lang Syne” (simultaneously trying to sing as loud as we can while attempting to mask the fact that most of us don’t really know the words.)

But Americans aren’t the only ones with quirky New Year’s traditions. At midnight, Spaniards eat a grape during each chime on the clock. Ecuadorians have public burnings of “old years,” effigies representing people and places from the previous year. In Thailand, citizens throw water as passers-by during the new year festival of Songkran.

In Italy, New Year’s traditions revolve around those things thought to bring good luck. For example, they feast on zuppa di lenticchie con cotechino, a dish consisting of lentils cooked in rosemary and tomatoes and served with pork sausage. Since the shape of the lentils resembles a pile of coins, it is believed they can bring you lots of money in the coming year.

Which of the following are New Year’s traditions thought to bring Italians good luck?

a. Going to Mass
b. Eating black-eyed peas
c. Listening to the Black Eyed Peas
d. Wearing red underwear
e. All of the above

Take a guess in the comments section, and we’ll post the correct answer next week.

Answer to the last Trivia Tuesday question: Micah foretold of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem. See Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:5-6