New Year's Day(Новый год) в 🇧🇷 Бразилия

Ano Novo in Brazil is one of the world's most spectacular celebrations, centred on the beach. The Reveillon festivities on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro draw over two million people who gather to watch fireworks launched from barges in the Atlantic. The tradition of wearing white on New Year's Eve is nearly universal, symbolizing peace and purity for the coming year.

Afro-Brazilian and Candomble traditions play a significant role. Devotees of Iemanja, the goddess of the sea, wade into the ocean at midnight carrying offerings of flowers, perfume, mirrors, and small boats with candles. If the waves carry the offerings out to sea, Iemanja has accepted them and will grant wishes for the new year.

Food traditions include lentils for prosperity and pomegranate seeds for abundance. Many Brazilians eat seven pomegranate seeds and keep three of them in their wallet throughout the year. Pork is also favoured over chicken, since pigs root forward (symbolizing progress) while chickens scratch backward.

On January 1st itself, beach culture continues. Families flock to the coast for the first swim of the year, and the mood is relaxed and festive. Brazilian cities host outdoor concerts and sound stages, and the summer heat (it is mid-summer in the Southern Hemisphere) gives the celebrations an energy quite different from the cold-weather New Year's of the Northern Hemisphere.

The first day of the Gregorian calendar year, celebrated worldwide with fireworks, parties, and resolutions marking fresh beginnings on January 1.