Whether you’re ringing in New Year’s Eve from some fabulous party, or having a quiet evening at home in front of the fire, you probably have a New Year’s tradition or two. Common traditions in Canada include singing “Auld Lang Syne” to greet the New Year, and kissing someone you love as the clock strikes 12. Around the world, cultures welcome the rolling year with unique New Year’s traditions of their own. Here are some interesting practices you may wish to add to your list this year:

 

In Spain, it is customary to eat 12 grapes – one at each stroke of the clock at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Each grape represents good luck for one month of the coming year. In bigger cities like Madrid and Barcelona, people gather in main squares to eat their grapes together and pass around bottles of cava.

 

Last year, the president of the Rotary Club of Wolfville, John Horton, passed away from cancer. Although John had been a member of the club for only six years, he was very active, already serving as Treasurer, Club Service Director, and Vice President. During the short time between his diagnosis and death, he received numerous blood transfusions in an effort to stabilize his condition, but sadly, John passed away on June 9, 2017.

 

The Club’s regard for John’s contributions was very high, and they honoured him with a Paul Harris Fellowship posthumously last December. In memory of John, the Rotary Club of Wolfville would like to stage a friendly blood drive competition between Rotary Clubs in District 7820. This yearly event will be held in cooperation with the Canadian Blood Service’s ‘Partners for Life’ program, and its intent is to increase blood donations to the Canadian Blood Service. The club with the largest per capita number of donations in each calendar year will win the competition, and thereby receive $1000 from the Rotary Club of Wolfville to be spent on the charity of their choice. The per capita calculation will be based on the number of members in each participating club on January 1 of each year, so clubs that recruit new members who donate blood will have an edge on the competition.