As the year nears its end, cultures around the world enter their much-anticipated festive period. While our native Brazil’s diverse populace allows for all manner of celebrations, there is one day where the whole nation seems to come most alive: New Year’s Eve. Every 31st of December, Brazilians flock to the country’s coasts, such as Trancoso, Angra dos Reis, Santos and Salvador, to celebrate the end of another year (observing the unspoken rule to be at a beach once the clock strikes midnight). It is, therefore, unsurprising that the undisputed epicentre of this celebration is the iconic Copacabana shoreline. On the eve of December 31st, 2023, around 2 million people took to the Carioca sands to watch the annual live music and firework displays - famously making it the world’s largest New Year’s Eve party.
To blend into the festivities of the Réveillon, as any local will call it, we’ve put together a handbook of traditions and quirks essential to any Carioca New Year.
Fireworks and Champagne
Perhaps the tradition that will feel most familiar to those coming from the West will be the popping of a bottle and clinking a glass of bubbly at the stroke of midnight, while multicoloured ribbons of light dance overhead. While the tradition of fireworks and champagne is a must for any Réveillon, we advise that they are best enjoyed with one’s feet on the sand, the ocean roaring in between the pyrotechnic bursts, and a caipirinha at the ready once your flute is finished.
Seven Waves
After the virada, the “turning” of the year, an immediate shift begins: the sands begin to clear as all beach-goers rush to the shore, their faces turned downward, feet at the ready. A wave rolls in, the first of the new year, and in turn the respective wave of people jump over its white foam. Repeat for the next seven waves, and with each one, ensure to make a wish or promise for the year ahead. Rooted in African cultures, the jumping of the seven waves is why many across the country choose to make the journey to coastal settings for the evening.
Réveillon Cuisine
Brazil’s cultural amalgamation has directly influenced its gastronomical traditions, as evidenced by the abundance of New Year’s Eve culinary customs. Most households will hold a Réveilon dinner, similar to the classic Christmas dinner in the West, where one must eat white fish, symbolizing the purity of a new start, or birds that peck forwards, to prevent any obstacles that may delay your life’s progress in the year to come. Other traditions range from the Greek’s eating of seven pomegranate seeds for luck in love, to the Portuguese eating of a bowl of lentils with your feet raised off the ground for prosperity and fortune, to serving dried fruits and nuts throughout the evening for the promise of plentiful, full tables for the coming year.
Wearing White
If one is to follow only one of the listed traditions, let it be this most iconic one: wearing white on the last evening of the year. Hailing from deep roots in Afro-Brazilian religions such as candomblé, white dress has become synonymous with Réveillon across the country- whether on the shores of Copacabana, in an apartment metropolitano, or in the countryside sítios. In this context, white clothing symbolises the manifesting for peace for the new year, and in its multitude of years as a tradition, unifies all to come celebrate together, in true Carioca fashion.
