New Year's celebration in Brazil

For New Year's Eve celebration, we normally choose between two options:

• Spend the evening at the beach (where concerts take place or stay in a bar);
• Book a Reveillon package in a Resort. 

This year, my mother decided to go to a Resort in a city called Gravatá. Gravatá is in the state of Pernambuco and it is known as the 'Brazilian Switzerland', due to its location in the hills and the colder weather (even though it is located in the Northeast, temperatures there can be 10º C). 

We booked a package of 4 nights, including the New Year's Eve party. The celebration had a buffet, a band playing and at midnight, Champagne and fireworks. 

New Year's celebration

Before the evening itself, an important preparation to consider in New Year's is the colour of the clothes you are going to wear. For us, we must choose a colour that represents what we hope for the new year. For instance: 

The meaning of the colours in New Year's Eve

You can either wear an entire outfit of one colour, or choose different parts, for instance, a white dress and red shoes. 

In fairness, we have a few traditions during New Year's Eve, but the main popular ones are:

• A few minutes before midnight, you must eat 7 Romãs (it's a typical fruit) and keep the seeds for the whole year in your wallet. This will bring you money. 

Romã 

• After midnight or after the sunrise, one should skip 7 waves, in order to bring luck. We believe the sea cleans the soul and removes the bad feelings. So you can start the year fresh :) 

• At midnight, we all drink champagne, toast and watch the fireworks. 

Like I mentioned before, another option is to go to the beach or to the city center. This is the most popular one, and what we usually do. There are concerts taking place in the main areas of the city, and famous Brazilian bands play until the sunrise. 

The concert in Salvador/BA

 New Year's Eve is mainly spent with your family, but young people normally meet their friends after midnight to party together. We usually have many resolutions for the new coming year and the Réveillon is the rite of passage to a fresh starter. I hope you liked knowing a bit more about our traditions and I wish you all a great start of 2015!