New Year’s Eve: modernity, tradition, culture and youth.

There are only a few days left for 2023 to be history and with the farewell to these last 365 days, the most relevant moments that took place in the year about to end.

Political, cultural, sports, social and economic events have impacted the daily life of Cubans, who next Sunday will say goodbye to 2023 with the energy that characterizes them.

This is the time of the year when usually everyone, from the individual, family, work and collective point of view, sets new goals and optimistically awaits 12 midnight to mark the beginning of new opportunities.

Another essential ingredient are the rituals that for hundreds of years have been woven around the so-called New Year’s Eve and the arrival of the New Year and that are related to the aspiration of people to attract happiness to achieve the desired welfare.

Cuba does not escape from these long-lived traditions. Each region of the island has its particularities, but what is almost invariable is the music and the Creole menu of the New Year’s Eve dinner, the most important moment of the day that brings the family together to share.

The arrival of January 1st is the moment when all loved ones embrace and kiss, neighbors greet each other, congratulate and convey good wishes to immediately begin the different ritual practices.

One of the most widespread customs is to throw a bucket of water into the street from doors, balconies and terraces of the houses as a sign of cleanliness and renewal. This practice symbolizes that all the bad things go away in the contents of the bucket and the best is reserved for the new year.

It is also common the «burning of the Old Year», personified with an allegorical doll made of straw and rags.

It is a ritual that symbolizes purification to ward off bad luck or negative energies of the period that is ending, as well as a transition ritual, since it also celebrates the arrival of the New Year.

In recent years, not so autochthonous Christmas customs have returned to Cuban homes, especially among young people, who prefer to celebrate New Year’s Eve and Christmas according to the codes of modernity.

These new ways are influenced by the phenomenon of cultural colonization, the spread of digital networks and the Internet, social aspects such as migration or economic aspects, such as the rise of private businesses, which introduce new practices in the environment of the festivities.

Thus, dinners in the warmth of home are replaced by a couple or family outing, the traditional menu is replaced according to the household budget or simply a call is made to connect with that friend or relative who is far away.

Selfies, Santa Claus costumes, themed parties, replace the tradition of yesteryear, but not its joy or the reasons to wish that 2023 will be a better year.

Written by Claudia Ortega Valido.