Germans’ passion for pigs extends to sweet ones. Cute, chubby, marzipan pigs Glücksschwein are often exchanged on New Year’s Eve. They epitomize good luck, especially with a shiny coin in their mouth.

Kale or other leafy greens on your plate promise greenbacks in your pocket

DENMARK - If you share my conviction that almond paste makes any meal a celebration, Denmark is the place to go for New Year's Eve, where marzipan is the key ingredient in a dramatically tall, ringed cake called Kransekage. The cone-shaped pastry is constructed of ever smaller concentric circles and is the classic dessert for weddings, birthdays and New Years. In Denmark and other cultures, stewed kale is served for New Years' wealth, since the leafy greens resemble folded money.

An old Danish custom is to leap into the new year with your partying friends or family. Just before midnight, everyone climbs up on chairs in their fancy duds, and jumps off into the New Year as the clock strikes 12.

JAPAN – Cleaning the house before New Years in Japan and other cultures lets one start anew with a clean sweep. Homes are decorated with a kagami mochi – an assemblage of two mochi balls (made of pounded rice) topped with a small orange or tangerine – in the style of a snowman. For New Years Eve, the dish to eat is soba, long buckwheat noodles that are slurped without chewing to retain their reflection of longevity. More mochi follow on January 1.

Brazilian pomegranate seeds party down at the beach

BRAZIL – For the ultimate party, Brazil is hard to top. Join the huge throngs on Rio de Janiero’s beaches (remember it’s summer there) to see the fireworks show at midnight. For extra luck, make 7 wishes as you jump 7 times into the waves. The lucky dish of the day is lentils and rice. Seven is also the number of pomegranate seeds to put in your mouth. But instead of swallowing them, suck the seeds, then wrap the tiny white pits in paper and stick the packet in your wallet to be assured of a year-round supply of money.

For more Brazilian luck, dress in all white on the last day of the year, wear new underwear and sleep on clean sheets. And while you are holding that necessary glass of champagne, take three short hops without spilling a drop, then throw the champagne back behind you to let all that is bad stay in the past. (Don’t worry. The person your champagne lands on is supposed to get good luck too.)

Despite your feast of lentils, pork, pomegranate, kale and soba, if January gets off to a rocky start, don’t abandon hope. You still have plenty of chances to increase your good fortune for the year ahead. Remember several different calendars are observed around the globe, so not all your friends may be celebrating the New Year on Monday night. Grab every opportunity for good fortune by also chowing down on the lucky foods associated with Chinese New Years in February and Persian New Year in March.

HAPPY NEW YEAR and
 Godt nytår – Danish 
 Prosit Neujahr – German 
Buon anno – Italian 
Akemashite omedetô – Japanese 
Feliz ano novo – Portugese 
Feliz año nuevo – Spanish

Special thanks to Lila Volkas, for creating the delightful illustrations above. Lila is an artist and photographer. We previously collaborated on a collection of Food Idioms in 17 languages and a story about Parisian Tea salons.

Lucky foodsLucky foods

LUCKY FOODS for New Year 2013 – We’re Going to Need Them