The arrival of the new year is a good reason to bring out the most best customs and traditions of the Venezuelan people.  We always seem to have the hope of a better future. These traditions help us to remember to not stop hoping the coming year is loaded with prosperity and health. 

 Below are some of the most remembered end of the year traditions in Venezuela :

• Take lentils and have them in hand when the new year arrives to have prosperity.
• Take a walk to the street with a couple of suitcases to have a new year full of travels.
• Eat 12 grapes at the time of the chimes, one for each chime, at the countdown as they make wishes for each grape.
• Break glasses to leave the past behind and make way for the promising future of the new Year.
• Wear yellow underwear for good luck.
• At midnight, have money in your pocket provides economical prosperity in the new year.
• Write wishes in a letter in January, everyone burns their lists to make sure that no one else can read it.
• Wear red underwear to find your ideal love. 
• Putting your underwear on backward, in order to have lots of new clothes in the coming year.
• Throw old things out the window
• Clean the house from the inside out with water and dispose of used water outside the house to remove negative energy (on New Year’s Eve).
• In the corners of the house, place lemons divided in four with the purpose of eliminating envy and bad energy. 
• Strolling under the table in order to get a good boyfriend.

No matter what rituals or customs are practiced, December 31 is a full night of hope, dreams, and wishes. With bagpipes we receive the new year full of hopes and new projects, we say goodbye to the year-old with an air of nostalgia and a certain sad feeling that dissipates between hugs and toast. The old year passed and his departure was heard to the beat of the music and a “cannon shot” of gunpowder which we call in the same way “old year”.

The new year and old year are part of our holiday traditions shortly before 12:00 on December 31, Venezuelans prepare a wonderful atmosphere to welcome a new year full of love, happiness, prosperity, and health. The important thing for every Venezuelan is to celebrate it with their loved ones, thankful for the experiences we have lived and those that remain to live.

I wish that you too can enjoy this beautiful time with your friends and family.