No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeTopicsArts and CultureCosta Rican Traditions Promise Prosperity in the New Year 

Costa Rican Traditions Promise Prosperity in the New Year 

If your ship didn’t come in this year, don’t despair. There’s always next year – and the eve of a new year might be just the time to practice some of the magical rituals handed down through generations in Costa Rican Traditions to give your luck a little boost.

Late at night on Dec. 31, sprinkle a handful of rice in every corner of your house. Next day, sweep up all the grains with a new broom and save them in a little bag. The old wives guarantee this will keep food on the table all year.

Another way to keep the household cornucopia full: stuff a large loaf of bread with grains of rice, corn, coffee beans, black beans and sprinklings of sugar and salt. Tie the lucky roll in a red ribbon and hide it in a closet or cupboard. (If nothing else, this will keep the cucarachas well fed all year.)

Wear something yellow on New Year’s Eve and you’re bound to meet your true love in the year to come. If you already have a true love, wear yellow anyway; it ensures good luck throughout the year, especially if you wear it on Jan. 1, too. If you wear something new, you’ll be well dressed all year.

Eat an orange at midnight – and don’t take more than a minute to do it – to guarantee plenty of food for the coming year.

If it’s travel and adventure, you’re after, pack a suitcase and leave the house with it at exactly midnight. Walk at least one block to ensure a year full of travels.

To guarantee money all year, Ticos used to ask 13 different friends for cincos (five-céntimo coins) before midnight Dec. 31. The tiny coins are virtually extinct now, but the tradition lives on using five-colón coins.

If 2024 was a bad year, take a bath or go for a swim at the stroke of midnight to wash all the bad luck away.

To know what the weather will be like in the new year, make a note of the weather on the first 12 days of January, known as the pintas because they paint (pintan) the weather for each month of the coming year.

On Jan. 1 or before, cut a bouquet of the fuzzy blue or lavender wildflowers known as Santa Lucía that grow in pastures and on roadsides. Said to be medicinal for eye ailments, the plant is named after the patron saint of those with eye problems, and the flowers are essential New Year’s magic. As you cut them, recite with devotion: “Santa Lucía de enero, Tenme todo el año con dinero.” (Santa Lucía of January, Keep me in money all year.)

A bunch of Santa Lucía blossoms in the house on New Year’s Day will keep you solvent all year, and if you dry them, wrap them in paper and carry them in your purse or wallet, you’ll never find yourself short of cash.

An old Tico belief holds that whatever you’re doing when the clock strikes 12 on Dec. 31 will characterize your year to come, so make sure you’re engaged in some worthwhile or pleasurable activity.

¡Feliz año nuevo!

Trending Now

Costa Rica’s Migrant Crisis: A Paradise for Tourists, a Hell for Detained Deportees

Costa Rica, celebrated for its rainforests and beaches, is facing sharp criticism for its treatment of migrants. The Jesuit Migrant Service of Costa Rica...

Costa Rican Fishermen Sound Alarm on Gulf of Nicoya’s Overfishing Crisis

In Costa Rica’s Gulf of Nicoya, fishermen are raising urgent concerns about a growing crisis threatening their livelihoods and the region’s marine ecosystems. Illegal...

Costa Rica’s Gandoca-Manzanillo Faces Unregulated Real Estate Boom

Costa Rica’s Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge, a biodiverse gem on our southern Caribbean coast, is under siege from unregulated development and government inaction. Environmental...

Money Laundering in Costa Rica: Key Methods and Challenges

Costa Rica’s geographic position and economic openness make it a target for money laundering, primarily driven by drug trafficking, according to the 2025 International...

US Soldiers Join Panama for Canal Defense Exercises

US soldiers arrived in Panama yesterday to conduct military exercises focused on protecting the Panama Canal, a key global trade route. The US Embassy...

Fuego Volcano Forces Evacuations in Guatemala Amid Ashfall and Pyroclastic Flows

At least 330 people were evacuated on Thursday in Guatemala following an eruption of the Fuego volcano, located 35 km from the capital, according...
spot_img
Costa Rica Tours
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica