Huh? 7 Very Strange Italian New Year’s Traditions
Not everyone celebrates the 31st with deep-fried dough balls and champagne. In Italy, it may be just as much of a celebration as in the Netherlands, but besides un brindisi at midnight, Italians observe a number of amusing superstitious customs. Not all of them are equally appetizing, according to colleague Sophie from Italiamo, but luck doesn’t just come knocking.
Panettone is reminiscent of our Christmas bread, but the following New Year’s traditions in Italy have no Dutch equivalent. And in the case of Zampone, that’s probably a good thing…
7 Italian New Year’s Traditions
Cotechino and Zampone
The custom from the north of eating Cotechino di Modena in December—a slowly cooked pork sausage made from the less desirable cuts of pork—proved successful enough to grow into a nationwide New Year’s tradition. Cotechino is still your safe option, because Italy has another pork sausage on the menu too. After being sliced, Zampone still looks reasonably appetizing, but in its full glory you discover that the seasoned meat is stuffed into the skin of a pig’s trotter. Buon appetito, buon anno nuovo.
Lentils
Save some room after that pig’s trotter, because legumes are still on the menu after the New Year celebrations. Lentils look like coins, so to start the new year on the right foot, you eat as many of them as possible. Each lentil represents one coin. If you’re a big eater, count your profits and finish your plate of zampone con le lenticchie completely.
Throwing Things Out the Window
A Neapolitan tradition used to involve throwing toilet bowls and other ceramic objects out of the window under the motto “shards bring luck.” These days, people still throw things here and there, but all kinds of household items are used instead. Abandoned televisions symbolize the worries of the past year being literally thrown out the door. A clean slate and a clean house.
The Color Red
You can also find prosperity in your underwear. At least, if you wear red underwear. If I were a scientist, I would have conducted a sample survey here to prove it, but if the internet is to be believed, both Italian men and women wear red underwear when you pull their trousers down.
Grape-Eating Contest
Anyone who eats grapes during New Year’s celebrations will have no money worries for the rest of the year. Just as in Spain, you eat twelve of them at midnight, one with each stroke of the clock. And follow them with a handful of walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, raisins, almonds, figs and dates, because those also contribute to your own good fortune.
Italian Bubbles
Fare un brindisi, or making a toast, is done with bubbles just like back home. But don’t show up with champagne, because quite rightly, in Italy you drink only spumante. And Italian bubbles go far beyond prosecco; Franciacorta, for example, is absolutely no inferior to champagne.
Making Noise
Finally: make a hellish racket at midnight and throw open the doors. The ringing of bells, setting off fireworks and popping bottles apparently serve a higher purpose: driving away evil spirits.
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