世界上5个古怪迎新年传统

2015年新年将至，不管是哪个国家的人们，都对新的一年充满美好的希冀。在这除旧迎新的日子里，世界各国的人们都以其别出心裁、各具特色的方式迎接新年的到来……

By Ben Lim

李殊 选 祝平 注

How do you celebrate New Year’s? If I had to take a guess, you probably celebrate New Year’s surrounded by family and friends, enjoying drinks of your choice (probably wine and champagne) and watching the ball drop¹. If you’re particularly lucky, perhaps you share a kiss with that special someone when the clock hits 12:00am.Have you ever imagined how New Year’s would look in another country? Listed below are five of the top ten “Unique New Year Traditions from Around the World.”

1. Breaking Dishes on Neighbor’s Door——Denmark

丹麦：邻居家门口摔盘子

A strange and weird² Danish New Year tradition, depending on how you look at it, is throwing dishes at neighbor’s door. Strangely, this makes them happy instead of annoying them. The family with the tallest tower of broken plates, glasses, cups and other crockery is considered to be the luckiest person because it symbolizes their large amount of loyal friends.³

2. Talking to Spirits——Mexico

墨西哥：和亡灵对话

Talking to spirits is a part of Mexican belief. Mexicans strongly believe that they can communicate with the souls of their dead loved ones. New Year’s Eve is considered the best time to communicate with dead spirits to convey⁴ a message or ask for guidance. And this is not done at home on an individual basis but is a legal Mexican practice.⁵ Taos Inn, in New Mexico for example, offers 15 minutes session of spiritualism and meditation for $15^.6 Not a bad price for some helpful guidance!

3. Wearing Polka Dots⁷——Philippines

菲律宾：身穿带有圆点图案的服装

Imagine streets full of people wearing polka dots and dining room tables full of round shaped food and fruits on one single day of the year. This all actually happens in the Philippines on New Year’s Eve every year. Philippines believe that this will bring them prosperity by associating the round dots to coins and wealth.⁸

4. Burning Scarecrow Dummy——Ecuador

厄瓜多尔：烧稻草人

Ecuador has a unique custom of crafting⁹ scarecrows and then burning them at midnight. They adorn¹⁰ them and fill the scarecrows with newspapers and pieces of wood. As midnight approaches, everyone gathers outside their home and each family burns their own scarecrow. The tradition says that this destroys all the bad things that took place in the past 12 months. The scarecrow also scares away bad luck, which in turn, fills their new year with luck and happiness.

5. Mistletoe¹¹ Leaves Are Placed Under Pillow to Find Husband——Ireland

爱尔兰：枕头下面放槲寄生叶子来寻求真爱

The single women of Ireland wait desperately¹² for New Year’s Eve because it is the night that can bring them the love of their lives. They place mistletoe leaves under their pillow hoping to catch their future husband. It is also believed in the Irish culture that this act will help them get rid of bad luck.

The world is a large and very different place. Yes, people of all nations may celebrate New Year’s much differently around the world, with different traditions, but there are a lot of general themes to be seen. We all want to start a new, fresh year with renewed enthusiasm and hope no matter what happened during the past year. We all want to be happier, find love, renew friendships,increase our wealth and also hope for a little extra luck in the coming new year.

Vocabulary：

1. ball drop: 除夕夜降水晶球活动。作为迎接新年的传统仪式，五光十色的水晶球会于零点时分在纽约时代广场准时降落。

2. weird: 怪异的，不可思议的。

3. 门口堆放的破盘子、玻璃、杯子和其他瓷具碎片最高的人家被认为是最幸运的，因为这象征着他们的好友数量众多。crockery: 陶器，瓷具；symbolize: 象征。

4. convey: 传达，表达。

5. 这种行为一般不能自己在家进行，但在墨西哥，这是合法的。practice: 惯例。

6. spiritualism: 降灵术，通过召唤死去的灵魂来解惑或预言未来；meditation: 冥想，沉思。

7. Polka Dots: 圆点图案。

8. 菲律宾人认为，这些能让人联想起钱币和财富的圆点会为他们带来繁荣。

9. craft: 精巧地制作。

10. adorn: 装饰。

11. mistletoe: 槲寄生，常青植物，常用作圣诞节装饰物，代表着希望和丰饶。

12. desperately: 非常，很。

（来源：英语学习杂志 编辑：祝兴媛）