Arts & Entertainment
With New Year’s Eve quickly approaching, people are already planning how to step into 2025 with their best foot forward.
In Latino cultures that could mean practicing traditions like eating 12 grapes under a table, wearing white or light-colored clothing or deep cleaning their homes — all in the name of entering the new year with good luck and prosperity.
Small business owner Xiomara Casas grew up eating cake on New Year’s Eve since the holiday falls on her late grandmother’s birthday. Casas’ cafe, Mi Corazón, is a colorful shop that sits in the heart of Pilsen. She said her grandmother’s legacy can be seen throughout it.
“I opened my cafe in honor of my grandmother,” said Casas, who is of Mexican descent. “If I wasn’t close to my grandmother as I grew up, I wouldn’t be as in touch with my culture.”
One thing that Casas and her family plan to do at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1 is sit under a table and eat 12 grapes, which is a tradition that dates back to at least 19th century Spain and symbolizes good luck as well as new love.
Communities in Brazil have similar customs that also center around future prosperity. One such tradition involves going to the ocean and jumping over the waves seven times, making a wish with each leap.
Brazilians may also throw white flowers into the sea on the holiday.
The act was brought to the South American country by enslaved Africans and is thought to help overcome obstacles held in the new year.
“Here in Chicago there is the space where we go for the flowers because at the end of the year before midnight you have to put flowers for Yemenjá, the goddess of the sea,” said Maria Drell, president and founder of the Brazilian Cultural Center of Chicago. “Since there’s no sea, we put it in the lake.”
For Chicago native Margarita Vazquez, founder of The Marinated Kitchen, holidays are all about the food and drinks. On New Year’s Eve, her home smells of arroz con gandules and the sweet drink coquito. As the family matriarch, she worries about how younger generations will carry on with the traditions.
In 2020, Vazquez experienced intense grief after being laid off from her job and losing her sister. That pushed her to take her pain and channel it in the kitchen by creating her company that specializes in sofrito and garlic paste — both staples in Puerto Rican households.
“I wanted to keep the family together because as tradition goes, we start separating because no one wants to continue with the cooking,” said Vazquez. “It’s a lot of work. I just want to create a legacy for my family and keep the recipes alive.”