TURN THE TABLES Just this once, encourage the younger set to draw on the table. Instead of a table runner, use a long sheet of paper that kids can doodle on before, during, and even after dinner.
New Year festivities are synonymous with partying and bad hangovers nowadays, but New Year is actually one of the oldest celebrations. It is first recorded as a major event in Babylon around 4000 years ago. The Babylonians knew how to throw a party, as celebrations lasted for eleven days, putting our modern excesses to shame.
The Romans celebrated new year in March until Julius Caesar re-worked the calender to begin on January 1, although in order to do so Caesar had to make the year 46BC last 445 days. The celebration of new year as a holiday has been popular in Europe for the last 400 years. In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII re-established January 1 as New Year’s day with calendar reform.
The ancient Babylonians can also lay claim to the practice of setting New Year’s resolutions. A popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment, a resolution many in the countryside today can say is still valid. Those hoping to lose some weight after huge Christmas dinners aren’t in luck. A variety of foods also play a role in New Year celebrations, helping to pile on those festive pounds.
Many cultures believe ring shaped foods will bring luck, symbolising things coming full circle. The Dutch, for example, eat doughnuts for luck. In America black eyed peas are commonly eaten with ham, and in Scotland shortbread and whisky are ubiquitous. Spanish people eat 12 grapes with each chime of the bells, and in Japan a bowl of ‘year-crossing’ noodles are eaten. Many people are adamant their resolutions to lose weight will start the very next day, naturally
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In different cultures. events on New Years day can have an effect on the luck for the rest of the year. In many Western cultures the first visitor to the home, or ‘first footer’, will bring luck if tall and dark haired. In Scotland it is common for people to go ‘first footing’ around friends and families homes, having a whisky in each along the way.
Strange New Year traditions can be found all over the world. In Ireland it was once tradition to bang Christmas bread against the walls and doors to scare away bad spirits. In Colombia, Cuba and Puerto Rico a life-sized doll is filled with things that have bad memories associated with them, then it is dressed up in old clothes. At midnight, this ‘Mr. Old Year’ is set on fire.
Brazilians wear white clothes to symbolize peace for the coming year, and in Greece children leave their shoes out to be filled with gifts. In Scotland, New Year’s eve is known as Hogmanay and is a key party night across the country. Scottish poet Robbie Burns is also behind the song ‘Auld Lang Syne’, sung at New Year throughout the world.
What better way to keep kids feeling jolly than to encourage them to play with their food — which is the whole point of our Snack-tivity Station. To help your guests create these festive Ice-cream-cone Trees, stock the station with paper plates, sugar cones, sugar cookies (your own or store-bought), store-bought icing (one batch of white, one batch tinted with green food coloring), shredded coconut, sprinkles, lollipops, and a selection of bite-size candies. To make a tree, spread a cone with green icing; spoon a dollop of white icing onto a sugar cookie, then gently push the cone into the icing. Top the icing with shredded coconut snow. Decorate the tree with sprinkles and candy ornaments, and crown with a lollipop star (nibble a hole in the cone for the stem). Provide flat-bottomed brown bags so kids can take home their trees (or tree pieces!).
Forget the front door. These bite-size wreaths — whimsical enough to appeal to the smallest (and finickiest) guests — are meant to deck your plate (although they’re unlikely to stay there for very long). To make them, spread mini bagel halves with cream cheese (plain or tinted green with herbs or food coloring), then sprinkle on red, yellow, and green bell-pepper confetti.
Country & Victorian Times 