Immigrate to Latvia to learn about Latvian customs: New Year's Day is not only an important holiday in China, but for Latvians, its significance is equivalent to other major holidays, just as the Spring Festival is the most important day for welcoming the New Year in China. Therefore, the entire city of Riga is filled with a festive atmosphere, with trees on the streets adorned with various colorful lights that change throughout the night on New Year's Day, making the whole city sparkle. Many large shopping malls also decorate their windows with snowflakes or other holiday-related items.
On this day, each family chooses different ways to celebrate. The most traditional way is to celebrate at home or with close friends.
Celebrating New Year's Day has also become a trend; whenever this holiday approaches, supermarkets and shopping malls become busy, with various discounts, promotions, and special offers being launched, as people shop for holiday gifts for their friends and family. There are also many small shops that sell New Year-related gifts, decorations, food, and other items, as well as many selling hot drinks and steaming traditional dishes, making the entire city lively. Every family is allowed to buy a real Christmas tree (not a plastic one), which we place in the living room for decoration. While decorating, we feel the strong festive atmosphere, filled with the spirit of the New Year.
On this day, we also pay special attention to our clothing and appearance, as there is a saying: how you spend the night of December 31 will determine how the next year will be. Therefore, people prepare with great care.
With the Christmas tree and gifts ready, each family places the gifts under the Christmas tree. On the 31st, according to ancestral customs, many people go to a sauna, as it is necessary to wash away the bad memories and events of the past year to start anew in the coming year. If there is no opportunity to go, taking a bath at home is also acceptable. Then, family members begin to prepare various sumptuous dishes. Salad is essential, made with boiled rice, crab sticks, and corn, all mixed with salad dressing, which is very popular among children. There is also another type of salad that includes canned peas, boiled beef, boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, and pickled cucumbers, all mixed together with salad dressing. At 7 PM, television stations start broadcasting various New Year's Eve shows, and family members begin to eat while watching and sending blessing messages and making phone calls. At midnight, we start opening champagne. Finally, we go outside to set off fireworks. Thus, we spend the last day of the old year and the first day of the new year in a fulfilling and joyful manner, chatting and laughing.