When I was growing up in Asia, my mom practiced the following traditions every New Year:

• collect twelve types of fruit – one type for each month of the year. The fruit had to be somewhat round (circle is a shape of money and prosperity) and should come in two’s (for fertility).
• fill the larder, at least with basics – rice, salt, and sugar. An empty larder doesn’t bode well for the coming year.

As you can imagine, the prices of fruit and basic food items skyrocketed towards the end of December as people tried to fulfill the yearly tradition.

When I moved to Europe 17 years ago, I was surprised that superstitions and New Year symbolism also abound but quite different. People use different symbols to signify luck and prosperity for the New Year – symbols which I’ve never encountered before.

In shops, customers shopping get calendars and good luck charms in the form of:

• Gold coin replica
• Baby boy
• Pig
• Four-leaf clover
• Ladybug
• Chimney sweep

Gold is definitely the symbol of money and prosperity. The baby boy – Baby New Year - represents newness and youth. The pig stands for prosperity as well as health, whereas the four-leaf clover and the ladybug are symbols of luck. As for the chimney sweep, I can only speculate it has something to do with cleaning up the old year’s dirt to get on with the new.

Sometimes, the symbols are combined together. Last year, for example, I got from the pharmacy around the corner a clover-shaped candle with a plastic ladybug on it. From the baker’s it was a plastic replica of 1 EURO cent with again, a ladybug pasted on one side.

Regardless of cultural differences, it is interesting to see recurring themes for the New Year: youth, luck, and prosperity. After all, these are what New Year is all about, right?

You’ve seen him before. He is the little baby boy who wears nothing but nappies and a sash with a year written on it. He is called Baby New Year and in a couple of days he will be wearing a sash with “2009″ written on it. Where he comes from, how he came about, or who gave him such a name is not very clear. No one also knows why Baby New Year is always a “he” and never a “she”. Even a search in the Internet does not give us all the answers.

Sometimes people mistake him for a baby angel (a cherub) or a cupid. Baby New Year, however, represents the start of each year, and may be seen on banners during New Year’s celebrations, be it the standard New Year on January 1 or the Chinese New Year a few weeks later. Or in any calendar for that matter. Eventually, as the year loses its “newness”, Baby New Year disappears to be replaced by the symbol of the elderly Father time. The ritual repeats itself at the turn of the year.

One site tells us that the Greeks and the Egyptians used a baby to symbolize rebirth or fertility associated with the New Year. Initially condemned as a paganistic symbol, the Christian religion eventually integrated the Baby New Year symbol into the Christmas tradition featuring child Jesus of the. The Baby New Year symbol was supposedly used by the Germans in the 14^th century and eventually taken to America by immigrants, where the symbol gained popularity.

It is probably the association between New Year and the baby symbol that makes a New Year delivery and the baby that comes with it extra special. You’ll be sure to see headlines on Thursday, January 1, 2009 saying “first baby to be born this year is …”

A Pennsylvania woman has been making a habit of ringing in the New Year not with Champagne, but with a baby. For the second year in a row, Becky Armstrong has given birth on January 1. She’s also had the first babies born of the new year at Gettysburg Hospital, according to AP. Forget about the New Year’s birth dates, what’s probably the most amazing feat is that she’s had two kids within the space of a year. Whew, I have a feeling she’ll need a lot of Champagne by the time 2009 rolls around.

Remember New Year?s Eve, before kids? I actually birthed a child 11 minutes after midnight on New Year?s Day 1999. Now that was a holiday to remember! That next year, I realized how close Christmas and New Year?s Day really are!
You remember?how the world was preparing for doomsday for Y2K? I was preparing for that and trying to figure out how to pull off a first birthday party if the world fell apart. Not an easy task. I remember the eerie feeling going to pick up her birthday cake the day before (the local grocery story had a free cake special that day? hmmmm) and watching people hoard the milk, toilet paper and water. As I walked down the aisles to get to the check out line, I noticed that they were bare. Very, very weird.

There?s always been a week between Christmas and New Year?s. Always. However, as I?ve learned now that I am older, time is very relative. Time seems to lengthen dramatically when you are very pregnant. That year I birthed my daughter, a week seemed to last a month. Now that I have 5 children, the week between Christmas and New Year?s Day and DD number 4?s birthday just flies by.

Now that the kids are older, they realize that New Year?s Eve is a big bash, not just for us, but for most everyone. They aren?t just interested in our family celebration but they want to do the whole big party thing. Stay up late, watch the ball drop, attend the bonfires at our church complete with food and pony rides, etc. All that, and then get up and celebrate a birthday the next day. Sure.

We?ve tried to let the kids stay up until midnight or even beyond. It just doesn?t work. They end up crabby, and we end up crabby. This year with a new baby, there?s just no way I?m even going to entertain the idea of allowing them up past bedtime. I?m already tired just thinking about it. In fact, this morning, I was so tired, I gave a bottle to our puppy. Now that?s just sad.

This year we?ve decided to have a New Year?s Eve celebration for the kids exactly at 12:00?noon that is. I found a cool web site with lots of links for activities for New Year?s for the kids to do. Also, the local aquarium is having a party for kids New Year?s Eve day. We?ll be checking that out.

Will they be disappointed? Probably. Will they miss out? No. They?ll have lots of fun on that day, and even be able to celebrate the next day too.