The new year is a time to celebrate, make resolutions to improve our lives and say goodbye to the old and in with the new. It is unsurprising therefore that many of the traditions around the new year focus on the front door of the home, the entrance to the threshold.
With this focus on the front door, and making changes and improvements, it might make you consider upgrading your front door with the help of someone like this front doors Hereford based company. As well as being the entrance to the home, a front door also needs to be able to keep the home safe and secure.
Here are some of the many new years traditions from around the world involving the front door of the home…
In the British Isles, it is traditional to open the front door at midnight – this is to let the new year in and the old one out. In Wales, the back door is also involved as the past year is ushered out this way, leaving the front door open for the new year to come on in. The back door is then locked to keep the old year out, along with any bad fortune.
In Denmark, the new year ceremony around the front door may be seen as more violent! Plates and dishes are thrown at friends and neighbours’ doors on new years eve, and in the morning on new year’s day, people look at the doors to see how much broken crockery is beside them. The more broken dishes that you have outside the more friendships you will have in the coming year!
At Chinese new year, colour is the all important feature of the front door based celebrations. Red is seen as the colour of good luck in China, and therefore it is traditional to paint the front door red and hang red decorations around the front door to bring good luck in the coming year. These can often be accompanied by a poem about good fortune.
In Japan, it is traditional to use native plants, in this case bamboo and pine, to make ornaments to decorate the front door. Because these are both strong plants, they symbolise the ability to overcome any difficulties in the new year and bring endurance and strength.
