How do you celebrate New Year’s? If I had to take a guess, you probably celebrate New Year’s surrounded by family and friends, enjoying drinks of your choice (probably wine and champagne) and watching the ball drop1. If you’re particularly lucky, perhaps you share a kiss with that special someone when the clock hits 12:00am.Have you ever imagined how New Year’s would look in another country? Listed below are five of the top ten “Unique New Year Traditions from Around the World.”
1. Breaking Dishes on Neighbor’s Door——Denmark
丹麦:邻居家门口摔盘子
A strange and weird2 Danish New Year tradition, depending on how you look at it, is throwing dishes at neighbor’s door. Strangely, this makes them happy instead of annoying them. The family with the tallest tower of broken plates, glasses, cups and other crockery is considered to be the luckiest person because it symbolizes their large amount of loyal friends.3
2. Talking to Spirits——Mexico
墨西哥:和亡灵对话
Talking to spirits is a part of Mexican belief. Mexicans strongly believe that they can communicate with the souls of their dead loved ones. New Year’s Eve is considered the best time to communicate with dead spirits to convey4 a message or ask for guidance. And this is not done at home on an individual basis but is a legal Mexican practice.5 Taos Inn, in New Mexico for example, offers 15 minutes session of spiritualism and meditation for $15.6 Not a bad price for some helpful guidance!
3. Wearing Polka Dots7——Philippines
菲律宾:身穿带有圆点图案的服装
Imagine streets full of people wearing polka dots and dining room tables full of round shaped food and fruits on one single day of the year. This all actually happens in the Philippines on New Year’s Eve every year. Philippines believe that this will bring them prosperity by associating the round dots to coins and wealth.8
4. Burning Scarecrow Dummy——Ecuador
厄瓜多尔:烧稻草人
Ecuador has a unique custom of crafting9 scarecrows and then burning them at midnight. They adorn10 them and fill the scarecrows with newspapers and pieces of wood. As midnight approaches, everyone gathers outside their home and each family burns their own scarecrow. The tradition says that this destroys all the bad things that took place in the past 12 months. The scarecrow also scares away bad luck, which in turn, fills their new year with luck and happiness.
5. Mistletoe11 Leaves Are Placed Under Pillow to Find Husband——Ireland
爱尔兰:枕头下面放槲寄生叶子来寻求真爱
The single women of Ireland wait desperately12 for New Year’s Eve because it is the night that can bring them the love of their lives. They place mistletoe leaves under their pillow hoping to catch their future husband. It is also believed in the Irish culture that this act will help them get rid of bad luck.
The world is a large and very different place. Yes, people of all nations may celebrate New Year’s much differently around the world, with different traditions, but there are a lot of general themes to be seen. We all want to start a new, fresh year with renewed enthusiasm and hope no matter what happened during the past year. We all want to be happier, find love, renew friendships,increase our wealth and also hope for a little extra luck in the coming new year.
Vocabulary:
1. ball drop: 除夕夜降水晶球活动。作为迎接新年的传统仪式,五光十色的水晶球会于零点时分在纽约时代广场准时降落。
2. weird: 怪异的,不可思议的。
3. 门口堆放的破盘子、玻璃、杯子和其他瓷具碎片最高的人家被认为是最幸运的,因为这象征着他们的好友数量众多。crockery: 陶器,瓷具;symbolize: 象征。
4. convey: 传达,表达。
5. 这种行为一般不能自己在家进行,但在墨西哥,这是合法的。practice: 惯例。
6. spiritualism: 降灵术,通过召唤死去的灵魂来解惑或预言未来;meditation: 冥想,沉思。
7. Polka Dots: 圆点图案。
8. 菲律宾人认为,这些能让人联想起钱币和财富的圆点会为他们带来繁荣。
9. craft: 精巧地制作。
10. adorn: 装饰。
11. mistletoe: 槲寄生,常青植物,常用作圣诞节装饰物,代表着希望和丰饶。
12. desperately: 非常,很。
看美剧学英语,这3招帮你轻松搞定英语听说读写
2016年6月英语四级备战:资讯听力中的高频词汇
雅思听力考试:考前注意事项
2016年英语四六级考试必备清单:这些东西必不可少
《真爱如血》插曲《Lullaby》赏析
快速提高托福词汇背诵效率的四个小妙招
留学须知:留学各国的雅思成绩要求
趣说英语:那些你不知道的英语词汇小秘密
《老友记》插曲:《Top Of The World》
雅思听力考试中最常见的两个问题及对策
单词背诵小技巧:找出内在规律
《美国恐怖故事》第五季第2集插曲《I Want Your Love》赏析
英语表达并不难,美剧帮你提高听说读写
《魔兽》:一部在中国获得票房奇迹的电影
一周词汇精讲:Worth及其相关衍生词汇
2016年6月英语四级备考:阅读题之唱长篇阅读技巧
seem to be 后 to be 省略问题的探讨
英语练习真题:独立主格结构赏析
《行尸走肉》插曲赏析:《Space Junk》
2016年6月英语四级备战阅读题之选词填空攻略
四级词汇复习知识点:单词记忆方法
2016年6月英语四级备考:作文题预测
考研词汇记忆小技巧:逻辑记忆法
你不知道的高速记单词的四大妙招
《神盾局特工》第三季第13集插曲《Catch Me If You Can》赏析
《美国恐怖故事》第五季第一集插曲《Hotel California》赏析
新GRE词汇高效记忆法:符合艾宾浩斯记忆曲线重复法
新概念英语第二册语法解析:非谓语动词之不定式详解
《老友记》插曲赏析:《Englan Swings》
2016年6月英语六级备战:翻译题预测
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |