New Year on January 1 in India is a young holiday. It has no established traditions. It combines elements of borrowed European culture and national color. Each state has its own peculiarities of the celebration.
On the eve of the New Year, Hindus clean their homes, get rid of old clothes and junk. Picking up other people’s discarded things is a bad omen.
Residents of some regions of India paint their skin with henna patterns, which can attract happiness and good luck for the whole year.
Hindus put on new holiday clothes and decorate them with fresh flowers of pink, white, red and purple colors.
Residents of the country of the older generation prefer to spend the holiday in the family circle at a modest table. Women try to be close to their husbands. Young people go out into the streets and squares, participate in carnivals, parties and theatrical performances in the open air. At midnight, the sky flares up with bright fireworks, bells ring in the temples. In port cities: Mumbai, Calcutta, Cochin, Madras on January 1 at 00.00 sirens on ships and motor ships solemnly announce the arrival of the New Year.
On the first day of the new year, Hindus are forbidden to argue, take on debts, or be in a bad mood. They believe that how you celebrate the New Year is how it will pass. On January 1, they always go to temples and pray to the gods to bless the next year.