Q.
With the 2021 we’ve had – especially on the heels of  2020 – we’ll be breaking out the New Year’s Eve good luck charms to usher in a better 2022. Any  global rituals that seem particularly relevant?

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Given the lockdowns and limited travel of the last two years, Colombia has a winning option. Time to get that lonely suitcase out of storage. Before the magic hour hits, drag your empty baggage outside. Then, when the clock strikes midnight, haul said suitcase around the perimeter of your living quarters – or the entire block if you’re feeling ambitious!

Why? Doing the suitcase stroll is said to increase the likelihood of your travelling in the year to follow. 🙏🏼  Bring on wanderlust 2022!

Other Colombian New Years Eve traditions include:

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ii) Wear yellow or yellow-gold undergarments to attract prosperity in the following year.

iii) Make sure you have bills in your pocket at midnight. A pocketful of money on New Years Eve = pocketfuls of money over the New Year.

iv) Leave room in those pockets for some lentils as well. These dried beans are said to increase the likelihood of financial wealth, and personal fulfillment in the year that follows. Cook those beans after New Years has passed, and ‘physical fulfillment’ is said to be in the cards as well.

v) How to put the right foot forward for the next year?  After the last chime of the midnight clock, literally take your first step with your right foot.

vi) Got any grapes? 🐥 You’ll find some in Colombia enacting the 12 grape New Years Eve ritual we mentioned last year. 12 Grapes for 2021 – Just Curious

vii) And a Colombian tradition more popular in country towns: decorate your dining table with 12 stalks of wheat – one for each month to come. Do so, and your crops are more likely to be fruitful in the following year.

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Happy New Year! Here’s to a 2022 where we come together in good health, humour, kindness, and a zest for the future.

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www.justcurious.ca

Header: Fernando Botero. Still Life. 1972

#2. Fernando Botero. Musician. 1983