Wonderful New Year's Eve celebrations around the world

All around the world, the phaseout of the old year and the launch of the new one is a chance to embrace a fresh start—and to let loose a little.

Parties and fireworks are widespread around the globe—Sydney, London, and Rio de Janeiro stage some of the best pyrotechnic displays—but travelers can find plenty of ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a more distinctive spin and join in on the fun. Let’s take a globe-hopping tour of some of the more iconic (and sometimes a bit wacky) New Year’s customs.

(A caveat: We’re spotlighting December 31/January 1 traditions here, and thus leaving out the many fabulous festivities associated with the Lunar New Year, widely observed in East Asian countries.)

New Year’s Eve in Scotland is known as Hogmanay. Rooted in the pagan celebrations of the winter solstice, the celebration also incorporates elements of the traditional Gaelic festival of Samhain. It involves dancing and other ceilidh revelry, plus fireworks, feasting, and hearty imbibing.

Inverness, in the Highlands, throws the country’s biggest free Hogmanay festivals. In the harbor town of Stonehaven, revelers swing fireballs above their heads, a New Year’s Eve tradition thought to burn away evil spirits from the past year.

But it’s hard to beat Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital, as a destination for the holiday. Take in the torchlight procession, the pyrotechnics, and the exuberant street party. Then, on New Year’s Day, watch the brave souls, dressed in all manner of costumes, wading into the River Forth as part of the Loony Dook tradition (said to have started as a cure for hangovers after all that Hogmanay carousing). Don’t forget to enjoy a dram or two as part of your cultural experience.

At the stroke of midnight, communities throughout Scotland sing “Auld Lang Syne,” whose lyrics were written by native son Robert Burns.

Another New Year’s Day tradition is “first-footing:” To ensure good luck, the first person to cross the threshold of a home on New Year’s Day brings a gift or two.

The Danes also mark New Year’s Eve with plenty of gusto. Many tune in to listen to the Queen of Denmark’s New Year’s address, delivered from the Queen’s office in Christian IX’s Palace at Amalienborg on the evening of December 31.

The midnight countdown in Copenhagen’s Radhuspladsen (the Town Hall Square) is another fixture of the country’s festivities, as are fireworks and the usual overindulgence. There’s a traditional New Year’s cake, too: the kransekage (wreath cake) pairs nicely with Champagne.

But travelers will find quirky year’s-end routines as well: Danes fling plates or broken china at their friends’ front doors, shattering them to confer good luck in the coming 365 days. They also cover their bases by jumping off chairs and sofas when the clock strikes midnight, a symbolic show of leaping into the new year.

The observance of New Year’s in Spain, Nochevieja (old night), includes the custom of eating 12 grapes at midnight (one for each of the 12 chimes of the clock) while wearing a gift of red underwear. Besides testing one’s speed at chewing and swallowing fruit, the practice is thought to stave off evil and cultivate good fortune at the cusp of a freshly minted year.

See the grape-gorging (and take part yourself) in Madrid’s main square, the Puerta del Sol. Many Spaniards flock there to carry out the tradition as the clock tower at the Real Casa de Correos (Royal House of the Post Office) tolls at midnight.

In Japan, New Year’s Eve (Omisoka) often involves the giving of year-end gifts (oseibo) and boozy bonenkai parties, plus the consumption of toshikoshi soba (buckwheat noodles).

But the most mesmerizing part of Japan’s holiday tradition is the ringing of temple bells 108 times: 107 times in the waning moments of the old year, then a final chime as the New Year officially clocks in.

Referencing the 108 beads of a Buddhist prayer-bead string, or jizo, the bells’ tolling is meant to cleanse the listener of past sins, allowing them to enter the New Year with a fresh start.

Hearing the bells in all their sonic glory in Tokyo or Kyoto (renowned for its extensive collection of temples and shrines) is a bucket list trip.

New Year’s Eve in Ecuador—that is, Año Viejo, or “Old Year”—gets pretty fiery.

Ecuadoreans construct scarecrows, puppets, and effigies, and ignite them once midnight rolls around, a long-held custom that’s also seen in other parts of Latin America. Many of these sawdust- and straw-stuffed figures evoke familiar cartoon characters, supervillains, pop-culture icons, celebrities, or political figures. The practice allegedly expunges the rotten luck and questionable decisions of the old year and sets one up for success in the new one. Some celebrants go all out by jumping over the incendiary effigies.

You can find Año Viejo celebrations all over Ecuador, but the capital, Quito, is a natural choice for witnessing the Old Year artistry and fire hijinks.

Compared to the smoldering scarecrows of Ãno Viejo, a signature Greek New Year’s tradition is tame: the hanging of onions in households. The routine summons the old symbolic associations of onions with rebirth, vitality, and longevity.

It’s not only vegetables: Greeks also smash pomegranates—another symbol of fertility and health—on front doors to wish good luck in the New Year.

This onion-hanging and pomegranate-pulverizing goes down as Greeks tuck into the traditional New Year’s cake or bread, vasilopita, with a coin baked inside. Whoever gets the slice with the coin is said to have good luck the rest of the year.

Travelers will find plenty of good options to experience New Year celebrations in Greece. Some Greek islands, for example, can satisfy all-night partiers. But it’s hard to top Athens, where you can make merry in traditional taverns or clubs, enjoy the famous fireworks display over the Parthenon, and keep your eyes peeled for hanging onions and smashed pomegranates.