Eat To Celebrate

NEW YEAR : People in China believe that an even number of dishes brings twice as much good luck, so they eat eight, ten, or twelve dishes of food at New Year. There are lots of foods at New Year that have a special meaning. Eating seaweed means good luck and for a long life they eat ‘long noodles’. Because cutting food on that day means the end of your good luck, they do not use knives to cut food, so they eat the vegetables whole. In Russia, they have lots of food on the table so the next year will be happy and abundant. At 11.59 people ready champagne and wait for midnight to arrive. Then they make a New Year’s toast to wish everybody good luck and joy. Spanish people eat twelve grapes at midnight, one with each chime of the clock. They believe this brings good luck for the coming year, but it is hard to eat twelve grapes in twelve seconds, so people usually end the year with a mouth full of grapes!

WEDDINGS : Italians eat sugared almonds when they want a baby and doughnuts in the shape of bow-ties for good luck. A long time ago in Britain, the bride’s father gave the married couple a drink made of honey for a whole month so they had a month of sweetness and joy. That tradition’s name became ‘honeymoon’ – the holiday a couple goes on after their wedding.

BIRTHDAYS : In the Middle Ages in Europe, people were afraid of ghosts and bad spirits on their birthdays so visitors came with presents to stop the ghosts. And so the tradition of birthday parties started. The ‘piñata’ tradition started in Mexico. A ‘piñata’ is a paper animal filled with sweets. Children hit the animal with their eyes closed until the sweets fall out. Then, they gobble up all of the sweets!