Brazilian New Years in Rotterdam

White rose for ???
Originally uploaded by Zozo.

With 7 friends from 5 different countries we celebrated a very Brazilian style New Years Eve in Rotterdam thanks to Helena and her Mum. It seems the Brazilians are very superstitous when it comes to this time of the year and have many traditions. This was a really nice change to Australia, where it seems the only tradition at NYE is to get drunk!

* The colour of your underwear is very important - hence why Brenda and I received blue underwear (brings peace and tranquility) as Xmas gifts in Portugal

* The dishes were mainly based around seafood because they want to eat food that moves forward and onwards, not chicken or beef which apparently can move backwards

* One of the dishes was lentils, which is meant to bring luck

* At midnight each person takes 12 grapes (or olives in my case ;-) and eats them one by one, making a wish for the new year as you eat each one

* We each received a white rose which is also meant to bring prosperity and we also washed our face and hands with warm water fragranced with rose petals as a sign of cleansing and healing. The Dutch are quite fanatical about fire works, the home-exploded kind - and so we were treated to quite a show last night. The signs can be seen this morning with bits of red paper and scrap all over the streets.

* You are also meant to jump in 7 different waves for love...but we couldn't find any in Rotterdam unfortunately.

If you want to see more photos from the night there are a few here

And then afterwards I went out with one of the guys here to try to find some fun at a pub/club...we went to one place that he knew of, but it kind of died rather quickly, and then we tried to find another place but everywhere was charging at least EUR 25 entry so we ended up coming home around 6am and drinking warm wine :-)

In the words of Toke from Denmark:

A new year 2005 has arrived...
and we to it...

In the crack between
old and new
suffering and joy
there seems to be a path for us to take
as we connect to 2005

grateful for many good moments shared in 2004

Hugs