New Year's Day
Historical Context
New Year's Day falls on 1 January every year and is one of the 10 official public holidays. Businesses, government services and schools are closed.
New Year's on 1 January has not always been a given. Until 1575, the Southern Netherlands officially started the new year on Easter Sunday, meaning the date shifted every year. Philip II put an end to that by fixing 1 January as the start of the year. Pope Gregory XIII's calendar reform in 1582 confirmed the choice across Europe. After Belgian independence in 1830, 1 January was included in the first official list of public holidays.
The New Year letter is a distinctly Belgian tradition. Children write a letter full of good resolutions and read it aloud to their grandparents, often receiving a small cash reward in return. In Wallonia, the focus is on sending New Year cards, though the custom is becoming less common. In the German-speaking Community near Eupen, people sing New Year songs at their neighbours' doors. In Brussels, the annual New Year show draws tens of thousands of revellers.
Regional Traditions
Wallonia
Sending New Year cards is a deep-rooted tradition. Families visit one another during the first weeks of January for the traditional New Year visit with coffee and cake.
Flanders
Children write a New Year letter to their parents or grandparents, read it aloud on New Year's Day, and receive a small amount of pocket money in return. The letter contains good resolutions for the new year.
Eupen
In the German-speaking Community around Eupen, people visit neighbours and family to sing New Year songs, a tradition that is becoming increasingly rare.
Ostend
The New Year plunge in Ostend is Belgium's oldest, held since 1987. Over 6,000 participants run into the North Sea in outlandish costumes on New Year's Day.
Verviers
In Verviers and the province of Liège, sauerkraut is eaten on 1 January with a silver coin placed under the plate for luck and prosperity. The most superstitious keep the coin on them all year.
Ghent
In Ghent, "eentje mee suiker" is the traditional New Year greeting. The expression refers to gingerbread with sugar pearls, the traditional New Year pastry. Children used to receive a gingerbread heart from their godparents.
West Flanders
New Year lukken are crisp butter wafers baked in a special lukkenijzer mould. The name alludes to "geluk" (luck). Jules Destrooper from Lo-Reninge commercialised his version in 1890.