Out With the Old: The Dark and Weird Side of New Year’s Traditions

Episode 399: As the clock strikes midnight, not everyone welcomes the New Year with champagne and resolutions. In this episode of Dark Poutine, we explore the darker, stranger, and sometimes dangerous traditions used around the world—and across Canada—to chase away bad luck and invite prosperity. From gunfire and forgotten parades in Newfoundland, to Hogmanay superstitions, poverty-banishing rituals, icy polar bear swims, and fire-lit celebrations meant to ward off evil, these customs reveal what people have been willing to risk for a clean slate. We also venture beyond Canada, examining ancient sacrifices, ritual fights, smashed plates, burning effigies, and other unsettling ways humanity has tried to reset the calendar. It’s a look at New Year’s Eve not as a party—but as a threshold, where superstition, fear, and hope collide. 

Episode Sources:
Guns, parades and superstitions: A host of forgotten New Year's traditions in N.L. | CBC News
Out with the old, in with the new — East Coasters share their unusual past and present New Year’s Eve traditions
Newfoundland and Labrador Customs
New Year's Day in Canada: Traditions, History and Insights
New Year's levee
Top safety tips for New Year’s Eve revellers
35 Crazy New Year’s Eve Celebrations Throughout History
Bizarre New Year’s Eve Traditions From Around the World | Ripley's Believe It or Not! | Aquariums, Attractions, Museums
Decision of the Intergovernmental Committee: 6.COM 13.26
New Years in Ecuador: Yellow Panties and Effigies
The Traditional Fighting Festivals of Peru
Divers had Set the Christmas Tree Underwater of the Baikal Lake
6 traditions from around the world for marking a Jan. 1 new year | CBC Life

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