New Year

NAME: Daniel Erazo

CLASS: 2nd "A"
TOPIC: NEW YEAR IN ECUADOR, SCOTLAND AND ITALY

NEW YEAR IN ECUADOR

• Custom

The main attraction is the burning of the famous old year, represented by a doll made with sewn and old clothes, filled with sawdust or paper, or made also with other materials; This can be a famous personage of politics, sports, or someone close to the family, who on the night of the 31st, burns it, they also put in it a list of bad things that will burn next to the puppet. Jump on him, give him a couple of kicks. 

Other costumes are the following:
La Maleta.- This is very important for me since I love to travel. It works like this: at midnight on December 31, with an empty suitcase, run around the block or block. This will bring you good trips and adventures in the New Year. If you also want prosperity - or that your trips are luxury - then put some coins in the suitcase. If you do not live in a block, you can run a bit on the street where you live or you can go around your house - if you do not want neighbors to think you are crazy.

The Calzones.- Super easy, wear yellow pants to have prosperity and money, or if you are looking for love and passion then wear red pants.

Grapes.- Eat 12 grapes at midnight, each grape represents a month in the New Year. Make a wish for each grape you eat.

The puppet of the Old Year.- In Ecuador it is customary to make a puppet - the size of a person - that represents the Old Year and burn it at midnight. In general, these puppets resemble famous people, especially politicians. The Old Year can be someone who died during the year or someone who made news, or someone who falls super good or super bad - think about politicians. There are parades and contests for the best Old Year, and you can make them yourself or buy them already manufactured.

The Testament.- It is natural that as the Old Year leaves, you must leave a will for your heirs. The testament is a list of the events that have occurred - the good, the bad, the funny. It is satirical and includes advice for the heirs (family, friends and celebrities). It can be written in the form of a letter, poem, or song. They tend to be very creative and not very politically correct.

The Widow.- It is also natural that when the Old Year "dies", it leaves its Widow, who needs alms to survive. It is customary for men to dress up in black dresses, wigs and make-up to pose as Widows and ask for money from people who pass by. Widows can be very dramatic and put together a whole show, which is very entertaining; Especially when you live in a small city and you can recognize who they are. Oh, and the money is to buy beers.

• Typical Dishes

Food is part of New Year's traditions. For example, people should eat a grape for each of the 12 chimes that the clock gives. Ideally six green and six purple. Champagne and wine can not miss this celebration. The hornado and the pork leg are also traditional Ecuadorian recipes that are prepared during the New Year holiday.

• Traditional Costumes

The traditional costumes at the end of the year are used in puppets and children, who dress up as famous people to ask for charity. Widows wear makeup, dress, heels and go out to the streets to fulfill this tradition. 

• Special Activities

In different cities of Ecuador competitions of old years are realized, many of which are traditional for more than 40 years. The dolls represent the most significant events, or especially negative ones, of the past year. The puppets can be funny, reminiscent and expressive.

Its incineration at midnight on December 31 is a ritual of purification to ward off bad luck and transition because it also celebrates the arrival of the new year. Fireworks illuminate the sky and dismiss the year.

NEW YEAR IN SCOTLAND

• Custom

New Year's Eve in Scotland has its own name and essence: the Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year, is the biggest celebration of winter.

It combines pagan and ancestral traditions with modern festivals, always with a backbone element: fire and its purifying power in parades of torches, fireworks, smoking chimneys and bonfires.
 

Fireball Festival.- At midnight on December 31, the carriers, or swingers, parade down the main street, High Street. Around their bodies they spin fireballs made of wire and filled with a combustible mixture. Following the beating of the drums and before the watchful eye of thousands of spectators, the bearers chase away the evil spirits with fire to start the new year on the right foot.


First-footing.- One of the most familiar traditions of Scottish New Year's is the first-jogging, which is to be the first to cross the threshold of the door of a loved one's home after the Bells, midnight chimes. The first person who visits you in the first hours or days of the new year is the first footer, and can mark the luck of the year that begins.


Redding.- In Scotland it is known as redding the house ('prepare the house') and consists of a thorough cleaning, a symbolic act similar to fire: the home is purified, preparing it for a new year. In the past, redding was practiced with special attention in the chimney, which was cleaned of ashes and embers.

Auld Lang Syne.- The most famous tradition of New Year's Eve in Scotland takes the form of music. When the midnight of December 31 gives way to the first day of the new year, those present at the Hogmanay celebrations in Scotland shake hands and sing the year-end song par excellence: Auld Lang Syne It is a traditional song, based on a poem written in 1788 by the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who in turn collected some verses from a popular poem.

• Typical Dishes

It is typical that rich and consistent meals are served, such as stewed beef or venison, meatloaf or roast beef. Of course, there is no lack of haggis, a spicy sausage made from lung, liver and heart of sheep or lamb, with mashed potato and turnip; or rumbledethumps, a dish made with potato, cabbage, onion and butter with gratin cheese. The food is accompanied by a good wine or whiskey. On New Year's Eve an oat cake known as 'hogmanay' is cooked. The dish is an attraction for children. For adults, the coneo is celebrated with a glass of whiskey. After the celebration embrace there is an exchange of food and drink between neighbors.

• Traditional Costumes

The Scots in this and all their parties, demonstrate their culture through their typical costumes. They use the kilt, also called Kilt, which contains a pattern called tartan. The tartan serves to identify the owner of the skirt, taking into account the social and economic position in which it is. In addition, they usually wear hats and scarves, which combine with the leather bag, hanging on the waist of people.

• Special Activities

Every New Year's Eve there are several concerts in gardens, as well as classical music concerts. Fireworks are characteristic of Scottish culture on this date. Children can visit the Bairns Afore children's celebration, an outdoor fireworks party. Traditional dances of the Gaelic people are developed in gardens and outskirts of castles.

NEW YEAR IN ITALY

• Custom

New Year's Eve is known there as San Silvestro, and on January 1 as Capodanno. Naturally, as in the rest of the world, people gather for dinner and the skies of the cities are filled with spectacular fireworks. 

The best known customs in this country are:

Lentils.- The first is to eat a plate of lentils during dinner to start the year well, a custom that derives from an old ritual consisting of giving a purse full of lentils to loved ones, with the hope that one day they are legumes are transformed into coins, that is, into prosperity.

Red lingerie.- Almost no one forgets to wear red underwear for the occasion, garments that are usually given at Christmas and that, in this case, guarantees a new year full of love. This custom is somewhat more modern but originally from Italy, although it has already spread to the rest of the world.

Throw the house out the window.- Another deeply rooted tradition, especially in Rome and Naples, is to throw old objects out the window before midnight. It is about starting the year by letting go of what does not work for us.

Ox.- In the city of Bologna the day of San Silvestro is celebrated: the Fiera del Bue Grasso, in which an ox is adorned with flowers and bows to be raffled just before dinner. The winner takes the animal home.

• Typical Dishes

The New Year's Eve dinner in Italy is known as "La notte de San Silvestro". In this, people usually dine as a family, with typical dishes of the region. The best known are: the cotechino, ground pork with lentils; panettone or pandoro, bread chosen by each one; the spumante, inevitable in the dinner and the toast.

• Traditional Costumes

The Italian clothing that the man wears denotes comfort and serenity, for that reason he uses a completely black trousers that will be covered almost to the knees by white socks. It is accompanied by a vest, inside a white shirt and a tie of the same color of the belt that will go in the waist, between the union of the shirt and the trousers. Moccasin-type shoes are also important in this typical Italian costume.

The typical Italian clothes that the woman wears show elegance. It consists of a skirt with pleats that is lifted internally by a petticoat. The skirt is surrounded by ribbons at the ends and below it, white stockings that cover from the feet to the knees. In the upper part, she wears a short sleeved blouse that shrinks at the ends and, above it, a corset fitted by straps. The shoes are classic loafers.

• Special Activities

The New Year's Eve in Italy is represented in the fireworks, since they are shot all over the country, without exception. In addition, there are festivals of lights in the sky, free concerts in the squares, waiting for crowds by the chimes. The streets are filled with joy and joy, to welcome the new year, with the characteristic Italian traditions.

Bibliography

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