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Yellow undies or lentils to usher in 2017
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YELLOW underwear is flying off the shelves in the Chilean capital Santiago, where tradition holds that it brings prosperity and love if you wear it on New Year’s Eve.
That’s just one of many colorful New Year’s rituals in Latin America, where some spend the evening walking around with a suitcase, others put potatoes under the bed and still others throw buckets of water out the window.
“Beyond yellow lingerie, the tradition is more tied to the color itself,” said Chilean writer Hector Velis-Meza. Yellow was seen in Latin America as a symbol of the sun, an eternal light, he said.
Chile is not the only country that adheres to the tradition. It also exists in Mexico, Peru and Ecuador, with slight variations. Some say you should wear red undies for love, yellow for money. In Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, pink is the color of choice.
And in Venezuela, revelers are supposed to wear only new clothes — a tall order this year as the once-booming oil exporter struggles through an economic crisis.
For some, it is indispensable to welcome the New Year by eating lentils.
For others, it’s 12 grapes — one at each strike of the clock at midnight, a tradition inhered from Spain.
In many countries, revelers ring in the new year by walking around the neighborhood with a suitcase, a ritual meant to guarantee a year of journeys.
In Uruguay, people often throw buckets of water out the window to wipe the slate clean for the new year.
Some throw their old calendars, too.
In Brazil, many people dress in white and make offerings to Yemanja, the goddess of the sea in the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomble.
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