I seriously thought about trying to include a wide variety of symbols of New Year’s traditions in this lunch, but I ended up with just a few.
Here are some of the wonderful New Year’s traditions from around the world I considered:
Suitcase
In Mexico they walk around the outside of their houses with a suitcase while hoping for travels during the year.
Red and Yellow Underwear
In Venezuela and several other countries they wear red or yellow underwear for good luck.
White Clothes
In Brazil some people wear white clothes that represent a desire for peace in the New Year.
Twelve Grapes
In Spain people eat twelve grapes for good luck when the clock starts to chime twelve. One grape for each time the bell chimes.
Black Eyes Peas and Turnip Greens
In the Southern United States some people eat black eyed peas and turnip greens. The peas stand for coins and the turnip greens for money. Eating them is said to bring you prosperity.
New Year’s Traditions in a Lunch
The bento breakfast JDaniel got contains twelve grapes, plain yogurt with confetti sprinkles, a blueberry waffle party hat trimmed with whipped cream along red raspberry spots, and 2013 written in mandarin orange segments.
The twelve grapes were for good luck. JDaniel’s swimming instructor used to be a Spanish teacher. She shared with JDaniel that he might want to have twelve grapes to start the new year. He loves grapes. I think he would have eaten twenty if they had been placed in his lunch.
The confetti sprinkles are from various different holiday related sprinkle containers I have. Usually confetti falls at midnight during New Year’s Eve parties. I thought JDaniel would like to see all the fun shapes of confetti mixed in with the yogurt. They also made the plain yogurt taste sweet.
A party hat or New Year’s Eve crown is sometimes worn to New Year’s Eve parties. I neglected to put one into JDaniel’s New Year’s Eve Sensory Bin. There just had to be one in this lunch. He loved the waffle with whipped cream. Once he had finished it, he wanted the scraps left from when I cut the waffle into a hat.
What are some of your New Year’s Traditions?
