New Year’s celebration, it is a time where loved ones welcome the new year with open arms. They wash away all the adversities they faced in the previous year, make a new promise to better themselves, or even tell themselves what their wish for the year is. It is a holiday that brings people, tradition, and culture together.
There are so many ways to make the best of this celebration. The world has so much diversity within it and everyone celebrates it in their own special way. Caribbeans, in particular, have so many different ways of celebrating — whether it be cooking with one another, or just staring into the night watching fireworks.
Here is how different countries in the Caribbean celebrate New Year’s:
Haiti
Haiti is the first country founded by ex-slaves. New Year’s is an important celebration because it symbolizes their freedom from the French back in 1804. To kick off the celebration, the women of the family would make Soup Joumou (Pumpkin Soup). The reason for the soup is a tradition that goes back almost 200 years, the tradition started with the slave’s owners, but the Haitians claimed it as a symbol of liberation.
The whole day is spent in festivities as a remembrance of the past and reclaiming their power. This day is joyous families come together, flags flying high, and enjoying the feeling of being forever free. Once the festivities begin to quiet down almost everyone attends Midnight Mass.
The mass is a form of celebrating how grateful everyone is to have lived long enough to see another year. Within the church, there is singing, dancing, crying, and praying to God for his Grace. This moment is monumental at the end of the mass people get together to eat the Soup Joumou and talk into the night.
Cuba
New Year’s for Cuba is traditional. But for a lot of Cubans, it represents their nation and pride as a whole. It represents the strength of the country Like most countries, Cuba indulges in a day of preparations and a night of festivities.
During the festivities, there are beautiful lights, dancers, and traditional food such as rice and beans. When the clock strikes midnight, fireworks go up and everyone eats twelve grapes. Each grape represents a month of the year and a wish made for each month.
In Cuba, some traditions align with superstition — all are very fun. There is one where the family would build a life-size doll and stuff it with all the bad things they experienced in the previous year or clothes that they believed to represent a time where something bad happened. They would burn the doll as a way of cleansing themselves to welcome a clean and pure year full of new experiences.
Dominican Republic
New Year is known as Ano Neuvo in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is very festive when it comes to celebrations. From food to traditional wear, it is wonderful. Dominicans see the New Year as a way of cleansing themselves of their past and their regrets, along with becoming a better person.
Food is a big part of the celebration, families would cook the finest traditional food there is known to the country. They would make pork, rice, yuca, platano maduro, and ensalada, or sancocho which is a traditional soup to the natives. After dinner is made, everyone in the family comes together to eat and enjoy one another’s company.
The family all dress nicely to dance into the night and party till the clock strikes midnight. With ten seconds left till midnight, the family counts down in wait to join each other into the new year. Once the hour hand strikes 12, everyone embraces each other with hugs and prays for great things to come for the New Year.
People love New Year’s because it means something for everyone widespread — whether it be as a way to commemorate freedom, cleanse bad luck, or even themselves the celebration is for all people. With such diversity within these countries, the festivities and time spent with loved ones are memorable.
