Getting lucky in the New Year

Can eating sauerkraut make you richer? Can wearing red undies really improve your love life? Laura Hewson looks at some of the more unusual New Year's Eve traditions from around the world.

December 31st - a time when many Kiwis flock together, drink too much, set off fireworks and hope for a snog when the clock strikes 12.

But while we may be about instant gratification, other nations are already thinking about how to increase wealth, health and happiness in the year ahead.

Food for thought

Forget the Lotto tickets - it could be what you eat on New Year's Eve that will bring you riches in 2010.

Many countries have traditions of eating round-shaped foods on this night, both because of their resemblance to coins and the idea of having come full circle.

In the south of the United States it is common to eat black eyed peas, while in countries such as Italy and Brazil they eat lentils.

In the Philippines they eat seven round fruits - seven is a lucky number, so this doubles the luck.

Greens are also popular due to their resemblance to money.

In the US there are collard greens, in Germany they eat sauerkraut, and in Korea they eat Kimchi.

Sweet foods are thought to bring a sweet year.

In Spain and many parts of South America, revellers quickly eat 12 grapes as the clocks chime.

Each grape eaten is one month of good luck in the New Year.

In Germany it is traditional to eat Pfannkuchen (also called Berliners), which are a kind of enclosed doughnut.

To keep things interesting, while most of the doughnuts are filled with jam, one or two are filled with mustard.

Needless to say, the mustard doughnuts are not considered lucky.

In Greece they eat a round cake with a coin inside. The person who gets the coin will be lucky in the New Year.

(In Norway it is a rice pudding containing an almond.)

Other lucky foods?

Pork is believed to bring prosperity because of a symbolic link to abundance.

Pigs are also linked to progress, as they are said to move forwards, not back.

In Japan they eat long soba noodles to symbolise a long life.

Just don't break the noodles when eating them.

Unlucky foods are anything with wings (your luck might fly away) or animals that move backwards, such as chickens and lobsters.

Dress for success

If you haven't given much thought to your underwear lately, now is the time.

Wearing red underwear on the 31st is said, in many Latin American countries, to improve your chances of love.

The meaning of yellow varies slightly, from attracting positive energies and happiness to increasing wealth.

In Venezuela, carrying a note of high value will encourage wealth, whereas walking around the block with a suitcase will lead to a journey.

In the Philippines, wearing clothes with circular patterns is said to attract money and good fortune.

Social call

New Year's Eve is, above all else, a chance to celebrate with friends and family.

In Scotland, many still practice the custom of first footing.

Traditionally, the first male to come to your house after midnight brought good luck, especially if he was tall, dark and handsome and bearing symbolic gifts such as coal, cake and coins.

Not so lucky is if the first visitor is blond, red-haired or is a woman.

Nowadays it is common for people to visit in groups.

In Denmark, people save up their unwanted crockery and on New Year's Eve throw dishes at friends' doorways.

The more broken dishes at your door, the more popular you are.

Other New Year's traditions

• One of the great US New Year's traditions is watching the ball drop in Times Square, New York.

Following this custom, other places around the States have chosen oversized objects with local significance to drop.

To name just a few: a peach, a peanut, a sardine, a beaver, a hockey puck and a French fry.

Other things dropping in the States? Bullets.

US police are trying to crack down on the practice of shooting guns in the air to celebrate the New Year due to the damage caused by the bullets coming back down.

• In many countries, including Ecuador, people create effigies of unpopular politicians and public figures out of straw, stuff them with firecrackers and cover their heads with papier-mache masks.

At midnight they beat and burn them for causing so much trouble.

• In Japan, bells are rung 108 times to welcome the New Year and curb the 108 mortal desires.

• In Romania, farmers listen for their animals are talking on New Year's Day.

It is considered good luck if no animal talks.

• In Germany, family and friends get together to predict their future by melting lead in a spoon then pouring it into a bowl of water.

The shapes the lead forms will tell you your fortune.

For example, if you see a snake it means others are jealous of you; a hat means good news; and a ball means luck is coming your way.

You may need to be creative in your interpretations.

• In most places, New Year's Eve is about new beginnings, whether cleaning the house of dirt and bad memories, paying off debts or making resolutions to live a better life.