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New Year in Canada
New Year is celebrated on a grand scale all over Canada. Generally, New Years Eve is a social holiday in the country. Midnight parties steal the show, where people can be seen dancing to the beats of fast music. The major metropolitan cities in Canada, like Toronto and Montreal, have several music shows and firework displays on the occasion, which attract hundreds of tourists from all over the world. Several community events are also organized in these cities, like sports, musical programs, magic programs and so on. In some regions of Canada, like rural Quebec, people catch fish through hole in ice and drink till the early hours of 1st January.
New Year Celebrations In Canada:
In Canada, many people go for vacations or take part in winter sports like snowboarding and skiing, to celebrate the New Year. Some of them organise social gatherings on the New Years Eve, where they bid farewell to the past year together and welcome the fresh year in a combined spirit. Vivid fireworks are also organised, which illuminate the entire region. The whole of the country gets illuminated with various kinds of lighting. Hotels, clubs and bars in Canada are thronged with people during this part of the year.
What more can you ask for! In Canada, the traditions and celebrations related to New Year differ from region to region. There are various age-old traditions that are followed till date and believed to bring luck and prosperity. For instance, the natives of Canada go for polar bear swim on New Year. Irrespective of their age, the people in Canada go for a swim, to render a hearty welcome to the forthcoming year. They also make loud claps and cheers at midnight, which they believe wards off the evil spirits. Kissing each other on the midnight of New Year Eve is yet another tradition, said to promote friendly ties on this graceful occasion.
First Footing custom and having a bowl of back-eyed pea soup, along with a drink, is also quite prevalent in Canada, on New Year. It was the European immigrants who brought the First Footing tradition here. In earlier days, people would go out and gather coals from their hearth sometime before midnight. Then they would go to visit their friends in the first minutes of the New Year. Many people in Canada follow this tradition till date. Most of them also great each other on this auspicious occasion with gifts. These gifts prove to be one of the best ways to express ones love and care to the near and dear ones.
