On New Year’s Eve, British people often gather into huge crowds along the Thames river as the Big Ben strikes 12 times. Together they watch beautiful fireworks display from the London Eye.

The English custom for welcoming New Year is full of hospitality and warmth. They believe that the first guest for the year would bring fortune for them. He should be a male, should enter through the front door and bear some traditional gifts like loaf for the kitchen, drink for the head of the family and coal to light the fire, otherwise he is not allowed. They believe that these bring good luck throughout the year.

According to French traditions, a special dinner to welcome the New Year will bring in prosperity and good luck to the lives of all those attending the feast. It’s time for them to gather, enjoy the feast and exchange best wishes for the New Year.

Eating 12 grapes at every stroke of the clock as it strikes 12 on the New Year eve is a very interesting tradition followed among the Spanish during the New Year. Each grape is meant for each of the 12 months and traditionally it is believed that eating grapes at the beginning of the year brings good luck and prosperity for all 12 months.

Offerings to Iemanjá, the “Goddess of the Sea” and the “Mother of Waters”, is an interesting custom of the Brazilians to welcome the New Year. Iemanjá is an African-Brazilian deity from the Candomblé and Umbanda religions. She is considered the patron of fishermen and also of the survivors of shipwrecks, the spirit of moonlight, and the feminine principle of creation.

Danes ring in the New Year by hurling old plates and glasses...against the doors of friends' and relatives' houses. They believe this will bring them good luck in the New Year.

In Scotland, to ensure good luck, the first foot to arrive in your house on New Year's Day should be a dark-haired male. The first-footer should also bring symbolic gifts, such as coal, shortbread, salt, black buns or whisky, to ensure good fortune for the year ahead.

Ecuador’s main tradition to welcome the New Year is to burn paper mache dolls at midnight of December 31st. Families and friends join together and they burn dolls in a big fire. They consider burning all these things a way of saying goodbye to bad things of the past year.

In the Philippines, people ring in the New Year with round things only. They eat 12 round fruits - one for each month of the year. For them, roundness signifies prosperity and wealth as their coins are round in shape. They also wear clothes with round patterns and put a lot of round coins into their children’s pockets during parties to welcome the New Year.

A popular tradition in Greece is the New Year's Bread, a sweet yeasted egg bread scented with orange and traditionally served on New Year's day. A coin is hidden inside and whoever gets it has good luck for the year.

As soon as the bell rings in the New Year in Turkey, people open their front doors and sprinkle some salt on the doorstep. The act is thought to bring peace and abundance to their houses and businesses.