New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

Different holidays mean different things to different people. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated by people all over the world for religious and secular reasons. Here, we will take a look at how New Year's Day and New Year's Eve are celebrated in the United States as secular holidays.

New Year's Eve in the U.S., unlike in Japan, is not a family holiday. Rather, it is a romantic holiday when one goes out with one's true love for dinner, a dance, a concert, or a party. It is customary to wear silly paper hats with silvery or bright colored tassels and toot on paper horns as the hour draws nearer to 12:00 a.m. During the last ten seconds before midnight, people gathered together anywhere-whether at a party or on the street-do a "countdown." "Ten, nine, eight, seven," the people shout, until they reach "one" and then they shout together, "Happy New Year!" This is the traditional moment of the "New Year's kiss," which is why people want to spend the evening with their beloved. In the U.S., New Year's Eve is considered a tough holiday to be a single person! After the kiss, people sing "Auld Lang Syne," a traditional Scottish tune that somehow has become the New Year's Eve anthem!

New Year's Eve is not an official holiday. Most people work during the day on New Year's Eve, though many offices and stores close early. On New Year's Eve, from dinnertime onward, people generally enjoy themselves, often eating and drinking too much. Children stay home and miss all the fun!

Then, after going home, and sleeping late into the next morning, New Year's Day begins. It starts in the morning with a parade on TV called the Parade of Roses and that is followed by football on TV and more heavy eating. (Americans love any excuse to eat big meals!)

The traditional New Year's Day meal is turkey, ham, or some other large food that is cooked in the oven. For some families, the New Year's Day meal can be very similar to the Thanksgiving meal, with mashed potatoes and gravy and cornbread, etc. In the southern United States, black-eyed peas are a traditional New Year's Day food. It is said that if you don't eat some black-eyed peas on January 1, you will have a bad year. 

People often cook all day and then fill up very quickly. Some people eat too much. It is a day for visiting friends and family. Many people have "open houses" on New Year's Day, parties that last all day, where you are invited to "drop in" anytime during the day.

New Year's Day is an official holiday in the U.S., meaning that schools, banks, government offices, and most businesses, even grocery stores, are closed. It is a family day when families gather together to eat, talk, and enjoy each other's company. There is football on TV too. Children do not receive any presents or any money. That was what Christmas was for!