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Celebrate New Year's Eve Around the South

First Night & Fireworks in Carolina and Beyond

by Renee Wright

>Fun & Fireworks

>New Year's Food & Drink, Toasts, Champagne

>New Year's Eve with Family

>New Year's Day: Parades, Football & Hangover Cures

>Chinese New Year Traditions

KegWorks.com (Dot Com Holdings of Buffalo, Inc)

Fun and Fireworks

N.C. Towns Drop Into The New Year

Raleigh lowers its acorn and Charlotte lights up its crown, but some N.C. towns find even more unusual ways to greet the New Year.

Brasstown, deep in the heart of western North Carolina, drops a possum, while in Mt. Olive, a three-foot, lighted pickle goes for a swim in the briny deep.

Brasstown, self-proclaimed "Opossum Capital of the World," has been dropping the possum at midnight on New Year's Eve for more than 15 years in front of Clay's Corner, a combination gas station and general store in the center of town.

Actually, the possum is gently lowered in a plexiglass pyramid ever since a brush with animal rights activists a few years ago.

Now the guest of honor gets the royal treatment, snacks on cat food, and is turned loose at the end of the celebration.

The Possum Drop has generated a lot of publicity for the Cherokee County town, with articles in the New York Times, the Taipei Times and all points in between, after the Associated Press put the story on the wire.

Clay Logan, organizer of the alcohol-free event, hopes to be able to continue the tradition. "We're not optimistic or pessimistic," he told reporters. "We're opossumistic."

Mt. Olive's New Year's Eve Pickle Drop, a family-friendly affair with live music and free refreshments, welcomes the year on Greenwich Mean Time. Mr. Crisp, the Mt. Olive Pickle Company mascot, drops the dill down the flagpole at Cucumber and Vine into a giant redwood pickle barrel at precisely 7 p.m.

Other Holiday Events
around North Carolina:

At Carolina Beach, the Island of Lights celebration welcomes the new year with the lowering of a giant lighted beach ball and a street dance.

In the N.C. mountains, Sugar Mountain Resort, Appalachian Ski Mountain, and Cataloochee Ski Area kick off the new year with torch light parades down their ski slopes, followed by fireworks.

In Oriental, the Good Luck Dragon runs up and down the waterfront on New Year's Eve.

Elsewhere, you can welcome the New Year on Wilmington's Henrietta III Riverboat or aboard the Great Smoky Mountain Railway, at elegant evenings at the Pinehurst Resort or the Grove Park Inn.

Salisbury rings in the new year at the Old Bell Tower while the Home Moravian Church in Winston-Salem welcomes all to watch for the New Year at a traditional Lovefeast service.

These and many more holiday celebrations can be found at the N.C. Division of Tourism's website: www.visitnc.com.

[originally published in North Carolina Magazine]

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Finding Fireworks in North and South Carolina

fireworks in Boston at First Night

Asheville, NC: Downtown Countdown a family-friendly celebration with fireworks at midnight.

[More New Year's events in the North Carolina Mountains.]

Blowing Rock, NC: Appalachian Ski Mountain, Torchlight skiing and Fireworks

Banner Elk, NC: Sugar Mountain hosts night skiing, and a free torchlight parade and fireworks at midnight.

Wilmington, NC:

Free Holiday Light Displays through January 1:
- Island of Lights -Pleasure Island (Carolina Beach/Kure Beach)
- Light Up the Beach (Wrightsville Beach)
- World's Largest Living Christmas Tree, through Dec. 31 (6-10pm) Hilton Park (off Hwy. 117), Wilmington.
- Illumination of Riverfront Park, Historic Downtown Wilmington (Water Street).
- Holiday Lights over the Battleship NC-Lit from stem to stern through Jan. 6. View@Riverfront Park.

Myrtle Beach, SC: Broadway at the Beach Fireworks Spectacular, 6pm, Free.

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First Footing and Other New Year's Traditions

New Year's customs around the world from first-footing to polar bear swims, plus recipes.

More History of New Year's celebrations

In Scotland, the New Year's celebration is called Hogmanay.

Every city in Scotland holds a riotous street party capped by the singing of Auld Lang Syne.
Torchlight parades and bonfires are traditional practices, along with Scottish music and dance parties, called ceilidhs ("kay-lees").
Scottish lore has it that you can expect a prosperous New Year if the first guest to enter your door after the stroke of midnight is a "tall, dark stranger" brings a gift of cake, a coin or a lump of coal for the fire.
If this stranger shows up at your door, be sure to offer him food, wine, a "wee dram" of whisky, or the traditional Het Pint, a combination of ale, nutmeg and whisky.
Groups of friends often go from house to house on New Year's Eve to bring luck to all.

On New Year's Day, the Scots go "First Footing," walking the boundaries of the parish, town or property.
You can participate in a North Carolina First Footing on New Year's Day at Rural Hill Farm, near Davidson, NC, hosted by the Catawba Valley Scottish Society.
Scottish Toast:
"Lang may your lum reek."
(May the fire on your hearth burn on.)

New Year's Eve requires a singing of Auld Lang Syne

Get the full lyrics (and what they mean) straight from the Scots.

Mr. Beer - Brew Keg Premium Edition Kit
Everything you need to brew your own beer

New Year's Food and Drink

Hoppin' John, a combination of beans and rice, is the traditional dish down South on New Years.

This recipe for quick cooking Hoppin' John from allFood.com uses canned black-eyed peas to speed up the process.

Serve some Greens and Hog Jowls on the side for an authentic Southern soul-food feast guaranteed to bring you maximum luck in the New Year.

The Greeks bake a special cake for New Year's.

How to choose champagne.

A recipe for Champagne Punch
Tips for setting up a Champagne Bar
Try Emeril's Champagne and caviar party.

Living it up? Here's the low-down on caviar...

Cater the perfect party for less than $5.00 per person

Deluxe Portable Travel Bar Set
The portable cocktail party! You will love how the Manhattan Portable Mini Wet Bar Travel Set is loaded with everything for your party on-the-go. This party pack cocktail case has shakers, jiggers, tongs and strainers, 2 martini glasses and room for two bottles of your favorite spirits. Don't forget the olives!

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New Year's Toasts

Colonel Sherman Potter of M*A*S*H: "To long lives and short wars!"

Tiny Tim in Charles Dickens', A Christmas Carol: "God bless us everyone!"

Traditional New Year's Toast
Here's to the bright New Year
And a fond farewell to the old;
Here's to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold

In Spain, people pop a grape into their mouths for each gong of the clock at midnight to symbolize good luck for each month of the New Year
Spanish Toast: Salud (Sa Lood)

More toasts and traditions from around the world...

Traditional Irish toast:
In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want.

How to say "Cheers" in different languages

Spend New Year's Eve in Casablanca with a DVD and these recipes.

BUY THE POSTER.

BUY THE DVD

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New Year's Eve with Family

Family Friendly First Nights

Or hit the streets at one of the family-friendly, alcohol-free First Night celebrations around the country.

First Night began in Boston back in 1976. The Boston celebration is now the largest New Year's Eve celebration in the world with thousands of performers and hundreds of events spread out over the city. Puppets, ice sculptures and performances by arts groups are just part of the entertainment, all accessible with a low-priced button.

Ice Sculpture