31 December 2009
Largest New Year’s Eve Celebrations & Food Feasts around the World
Posted by Crystal under: News .
All around the world people are about to welcome yet another New Year: each culture has its own fascinating New Year’s Eve traditions, food feasts, parties and parades. With this article, we want to provide you with a glimpse of how New Year’s Eve is celebrated by other people around the world. Here are some of the most attended and interesting New Year’s Eve celebrations:
Sydney, Australia. Due to time zones, Sydney is one of the first cities to welcome the New Year and is notorious for hosting one of the most spectacular New Year’s Eve celebrations. It is estimated that about 2 million people gather at Sydney Harbor for the New Year’s Eve celebration and watch the extravagant fireworks exploding over the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House. The fireworks are traditionally followed by the Light Parade, which features more than 50 vessels, illuminated with decorative lights, sailing around Sydney Harbor. Australians largely follow British traditions and enjoy traditional dinner dishes for New Year’s Eve, such as roast meats and ham, mince pies and fruit cakes, though it is becoming more and more popular to have seafood for New Year’s Eve due to hot weather in Australia.
Paris, France. The French usually celebrate New Year’s Eve with a special feast called le Réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre. This feast, not surprisingly, includes truly French dishes such as foie gras, crème brulee, ice cream and Champagne. It’s a tradition for the French to eat out with friends on prix fixe menus at restaurants across Paris. On New Year’s Eve, Paris has magnificent lights shows along the Champs-Elysees and other parts of the cities. The main anchor of the celebrations, however, is the Grande Parade de Chantilly, which has grown into one of the city’s most popular attractions.
Rome, Italy. Italians usually celebrate New Year’s Eve with parents and friends. Traditional New Year’s Eve dinner, called La Festa di San Silvestro, always includes lentils, which are typically served with cotechino, an extremely rich spiced Italian pork sausage, and a zampone, a stuffed pig’s trotter. Other popular dishes served are baccalà (salted dried cod fish), vermicelli, baked pasta, capon and turkey. Traditional desserts include Neapolitan honey pastry; fried pastry ribbons sprinkled with powdered sugar; dried figs, candied almonds, and marzipan fruits and vegetables. After holiday dinner, people gather in the streets to dance, drink and welcome the New Year. At midnight, fireworks are displayed across Rome and Piazza del Popolo, which traditionally hosts an outdoor classical music concert through entire evening.
London, UK. At midnight, the fireworks display begins on the river Thames, as Big Ben finishes chiming the midnight hour. Fireworks are set off from barges and boats on the River and from the London Eye, the largest Ferris wheel in Europe. About 400,000 people stand on River banks to watch the fireworks. Traditional holiday meals include roast meats, lots of wines, cakes and candies.
Madrid, Spain. Spanish New Year’s Eve is usually celebrated with family and friends. The dinner often includes shrimp, lamb or turkey, with traditional drinks like sparkling wine, champagne, cava, or cider. It is an old tradition to eat exactly twelve grapes, one on each chime of the clock, as it counts down to midnight. After family dinner, people go out and attend parties at pubs, local bars, etc. Next morning, party attendees have traditional winter breakfast of delicious hot chocolate and deep fried pastry snacks, lightly dusted with sugar, or specialty Spanish doughnuts called churros.
Berlin, Germany. Berlin hosts one of the largest celebrations in Europe, attended by over a million people. The focal point is Brandenburg Gate and the fireworks display at night over that location. Germans are notorious for creating a big glitzy show out of fireworks. At midnight everybody shoots off some type of rocket-style fireworks or firecrackers. Traditional German New Year’s Eve food includes raclette and doughnuts: raclette is a Swiss dish, where cheese is melted and scraped over pieces of potatoes; doughnuts are usually filled with jelly or other filling, such as mustard.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. New Year’s Eve in Rio, or Reveillon, is one of the biggest events of the year, with about 2 million people attending. This huge party takes place along Copacabana beach and features several music stages, fireworks, dancing, and famous Brazilian singers. The dinner typically includes traditional lentil soup, which symbolizes financial abundance for next year, turkey, vegetables, champagne and cakes. The festivities culminate with spectacular fireworks at midnight. Balls and parties are held at all major hotels along the beach; hotels are open all night, serving champagne breakfasts starting from 3 am on January 1.
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