New Year’s Eve means only one thing: goodbye 2018 and welcome 2019. Have you already mixed this great event with Valencia? The outcome is an amazing Spanish celebration. As you have guessed, this post will be about some of the best Spanish New Year’s Eve traditions.
This is actually the last post of the year! Have you enjoyed our blog? We have changed style several times, but we worked hard to ameliorate it and to provide you with useful information about Valencia, Spain and Spanish. Our mission is to make you fall in love with this beautiful country and this city. Therefore, we will keep writing our posts and we hope to be part of your weekly readings in 2019! Our New Year’s resolutions? Well, we will tell you our plans next week…
But let’s go back to the Spanish New Year’s Eve traditions. Imagine to be back from Christmas holidays and to be in your cosy-shared flat with your flatmates. Everyone has his/her own traditions and everyone, or nearly everyone, is celebrating the end of the year in Valencia for the first time. Which is the very first thing you need to know? How to wish a Happy New Year in Spanish, of course! And how to say New Year’s Eve.
New Year’s Eve in Spanish is called Nochevieja and if you have to wish someone a Happy New Year, this is what you have to say: Feliz Año Nuevo. Ok, it is easy, but it is good to know! Once we have some Spanish language notions, we can begin to list all the things we have to do in order to celebrate a perfect Spanish New Year’s Eve.
Outdoor VS Indoor
The location is important and not just to look for a shared flat ahahah. We could not end 2018 without writing this sentence once more! Getting serious, Spanish people celebrate New Year’s Eve both at home, for dinner, and in squares, where they usually wait for Midnight. The citizens of Madrid meet in Puerta de Sol, the ones of Barcelona in Plaza Espana and in Valencia, they gather in Plaza de Ayuntamiento.
Red Underwear
Underwear has never been so important. Traditionally, during Christmas Eve, you should wear red underwear. Why? Well, to fall in love in 2019. Should we believe it? Let’s try! There is always a good reason to go shopping…
12 Lucky Grapes
One grape per each month. A King of Spain first started this tradition and, since that moment, it is believed that eating the grapes brings good luck for the following 12 months. Amongst all the interesting traditions, this is one of our favourite and we will surely do it in front of the clock of the Plaza de Ayuntamiento.
Right Foot
Let’s begin with the right foot! Literally ahahah. There is a huge amount of good luck rituals this night and we will surely forget one or maybe more. By the way, back to our footstep, you have to begin 2019 with the right foot. All set?
Drink Cava
Here we are, with our last tradition and with a great desire to organize the perfect Spanish New Year’s Eve. To bring wealth in the new year, Spanish people drop something made of gold (usually a ring) into a glass of Cava. They do this before Midnight and this is interesting because many other traditions want the toast after Midnight. We guess that we are ready for our traditional New Year’s Eve, right?
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What about your 2018? Are you ready to say goodbye to this amazing year? We are so excited to begin a new year with all of you and we are so glad we have spent with you the last months. Our international team is actually ready to celebrate together a traditional and original Spanish New Year’s Eve: we have bought grapes, we are wearing red underwear, cava is in the fridge and lentils are cooking… Even though our shared flat is super cosy and it is cold outside, we have decided to enjoy this night with all the other Spanish people: we are going in the Plaza de Ayuntamiento all together!
See you in 2019!
helpValencia team wishes you a Happy New Year!