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Enjoy New Year in Granada - but don't forget the red underwear!
"A new year and a new start - it is all here for you!"
I really enjoy New Year in Granada.
Each year I follow the local tradition of wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve. According to our friends, it promises good luck throughout the following year, especially if someone else buys it for me!
 Everyone should Wear something red
for New Year in Granada
Many people visiting and staying in bed and breakfast accommodation in Granada are puzzled by seeing red underwear for sale on market stalls and by street-sellers before new year in Granada. A lot of the clothing looks really good quality - and at a very good price too. Now I understand why this underwear is being sold. And why people buy it.
Tradition states that the wearing of red underwear dates back to the middle ages. That was when wearing red was forbidden because of associations with the devil and witchcraft. So what did people do? They wore red (their symbol of life) underneath their clothes where it wouldn't be seen.
Traditions move on and often can enrich our lives. For instance last Christmas I passed a group of women exchanging presents on Christmas day. They were in their late sixties. When one of them opened her gift to find a red thong they all hooped with laughter. And I wouldn't mind betting that, come New Year's Eve, she will be joining in with this Spanish tradition too....
Red underwear for sale at New Year in Granada
Make Time To Enjoy A Good Joke Before New Year's Eve
Be in Granada (and any other place in Spain) on December 28th and celebrate El Día de Los Santos Inocentes (Holy Innocents' day) by playing a joke on someone. This is the spanish equivalent of April Fools Day.
New Year's Eve is another Big Tradition After being in Granada at Christmas, another tradition involves Nochevieja (New Year's Eve) when the whole of Granada is transformed into one big fiesta with the 12 grapes being eaten (one grape for each stroke of midnight) to bring luck for the year ahead - and then washing everything down with champagne.
The place to be, for anyone who wants to take part in this celebration, is the Plaza de Magnolias outside the Ajuntamiento of Granada. Grapes and cava are distributed free to help all willing participants to have a wonderful next year.
New Year in Granada is truly an experience to savour and enjoy.
Cava and Grapes for New Year
(photo credit Keith Williamson - Flickr)
I must say that swallowing one grape per srike of the clock probably sounds quite easy to do but it is actually quite difficult. However, the striking of the clock at Midnight on New Year's Eve is slowed down slightly in order to help us to "get them all in".
One grape per strike gives us a month of luck per grape during the following year. The thing is - if you look around at the faces of your friends trying to squeeze another grape into their mouths it's bound to make you want to laugh - but if you do, you know your own grape eating will be thwarted. It really is a difficult tradition to uphold. But it is well worth it - and such good fun, too!
Of course, you don't have to be in Granada city for New Year in order to join in with these traditions. No matter where you are, you can still wear your red underwear and eat your twelve grapes at midnight on New Year's Eve. So why not join with us here in Granada - from wherever you are - and have yourself a lucky year.
And as for me, as well as eating my own 12 grapes and washing them down with a glass of bubbly I will wish everyone Feliz Nochevieja and a Feliz Año (Happy New Year's Eve and a Happy New Year). With my secret underwear on I know I can't fail to have a lucky New Year in Granada and an especially good whole year through.
Feliz Año to you, wherever you may be.
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The Granada Blog brings you the news about fiestas and festivals in Granada, and New Years Eve is an important part of every culture. If you are in Granada you can certainly enjoy the celebrations with the Granadinos.
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