New Year in China and its Seasonal Festivities
The New Year in China is tied to the first new moon after the sun enters Aquarius and lasts three days legally, but celebrations extend longer. Shops close and domestic staff remove for weeks, delaying foreign households. Credits and gifts flow to tradespeople and hosts, while debts are settled, lanterns and red mottoes decorate streets, and greetings like Kung-hi Kung-hi spread through crowded markets and homes.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
China
Shanghai
Hong Kong
Jivery
New York Post
Vessel Cup Bring New Year Charity Tradition
The Vessel Cup is a New Year custom in northern England where poor women and girls carry two dolls representing the Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus. They sing an old carol while going door to door before New Year and present a small cup for alms, with the belief that rewarding them ensures health and fortune for the year.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
Jesus
Buffalo Express
Goodbye to the Old Year Poem Excerpt
A fragment of a year end poem reflects on farewell to the old year with mixed feelings of joy sorrow hope and fear and looks toward new cheer and renewal.
A Strange New Year's Rite in the Cevennes Hills
The Boston Globe recounts a New Year’s Eve Messe des Animaux in the Cevennes. Cattle, sheep, and goats process to a candlelit church as an aged priest blesses them with holy water and the Magnificat. The crowd, drivers, and shepherds kneel, singing Hosanna as moonlight glints on horns and hides, a striking, solemn ritual.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rly
St. Sylvester
Boston Globe
When the New Year Begins Across Latin Christian Lands
The Montreal Star notes seven new year start dates among Latin Christian countries. Dates included March 1 January 1 December 25 and Easter. Variations reflect historical calendars from Merovingians to Romans and other ancient peoples.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
France
Superstitions of New Year Reflected in Old Beliefs
The item compiles several 19th century beliefs about New Year customs. It notes that removing lamps or dirty water is said to invite death or luck, that a first visitor who is a woman brings misfortune if she is dark complexioned, and a Illinois custom where sleighs shouted gunfire and invited guests in if there was no objection, with drinks and food provided.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Connecticut
Honolulu
Ayer
Dreds
Illinois
Hari
Weenderstrasse
Bayard Taylor
Frankfort
Presents For English Sovereigns Ended With Commonwealth
The custom of giving New Year’s presents to English sovereigns ceased with the establishment of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell and has never been revived since.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Commonwealth
Oliver Cromwell
New Year at Gottingen Describes Sylvester Abend
An American recalls celebrating Sylvester Abend in Gottingen with friends Williams and Herr. The evening features a fortune reading with molten lead and a key, varied destinies, and a solemn countdown to midnight. Afterward, revelers issue to the cold night, some rowdy, with few arrests, a scene unlike Frankfort’s New Year crowds.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Sylvester Abend
Lveu Pastoria
Williams
Herr
Herr Bock
Kerr
Anon
Fraulein Gertrude
Origin of New Year Observances and First Footing
The article traces New Year customs across cultures, noting the lack of religious detail in general festivities but recognition of Circumsio Domini in some churches. It highlights Scotland’s long tradition of merriment with first footing after midnight and the lambs wool wassail ritual, where the head of the family shares spiced ale and toasts for the year, as documented in the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Scotland
Philadelphia Public Ledger
The Jewish New Year and Customs Across Cultures
A brief survey of Rosh Hashanah two day observance for Jews and a single day for Reform Jews marked by candles rosh symbolism ram horn and atonement prep. It also notes Japanese oni harai devil expulsion beans ritual and cautions from the Atlanta Constitution about New Year resolutions and manners.
Also Mentioned on This Page
Antonio Alarrun
Bastrop, Tex
A. P. Ordway & Co
Boston
Mass
Sewell
Alwaya
RE Medical CO
ELY Brothers
Warren St
New York
Finly
Dr. R. du Mont
Buy
Halsted St
Chicago
Aquarius
Boston Transcript
Cevennes
Black
Espinouze
Gottingen
Atlanta Constitution
Warren County
O.h.hunter &Co
Second Street
R. Hoxsie
Hoxsie C. C. C. Co
Buffalo, N.Y
D. Shear
T.o.slater & CQ
Phenix Snow Shoes
Lead and Iron Pipe
Warren, PA
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