Is it late to wish you a happy new year?
Fireworks in Copacabana beach
After a number of consecutive NYE celebrations in Europe, it came as a refreshingly good idea spending NYE in hot Rio de Janeiro. And so I did. And it was as wonderful as I thought it was going to be.
No, it was not my first Rio NYE. I am Brazilian after all! I lived in Rio for a long time. Not long enough to stop me going back with nostalgia and thirst to be a carioca again. The special element of this NYE was the fact that we were celebrating the arrival of 2010.
Yes, nothing new about that. However, I was in Rio when I was celebrating the arrival of 2000. Then I remember asking my private gods and angels to give me a future somewhere distant, places to travel and a love from far away. Of all new year’s resolutions, I suppose finding a new love is the one everyone secretly hopes for, but they cite shaping up instead, so they do not look like total losers when the year ends and they are still single or with an empty heart – worse than being single.
After carefully choosing my white outfit, I headed to the beach: Copacabana beach, precisely right opposite the Copacabana Palace. The crowd is massive and they wear white or carefully chosen colours linked to some sort of superstition that brings smiles and hope to the souls joining the big party.
So here is a quick guide for beginners:
white is peace – being to you or to the world.
yellow is money – hopefully in pots of gold!
green is hope – hope for a better life, a better you perhaps?
blue is tranquility – usually sported by the pretty young ladies that have just found love and now wish to get married.
red is hot red passion – sexual or just some ambition and drive back into your life.
Most people however, choose to wear white, only because they can afford to be more specific or adventurous about the colour tone when it comes to their underwear, another superstition – it must be new and translate according to the colours mentioned above.
My privacy is mine, but I did wear white and went to the beach to celebrate 10 years past. And then it was me plus a husband from far away, plus a daughter, minus a mother, plus sisters and nieces, plus a father. I was celebrating 10 years down the line. 10 years of dreams and hard reality, joy and sadness – being alive that is.
I still every now and then spend NYE in cold Europe, wearing black or whatever I fancy. But when in Rome…
Maybe it was just meant to be, maybe it was the vibe in Rio 10 years ago, maybe it was just my strategy working. Whatever it is, anything you wish for when in NYE in Rio, is bound to happen. Don’t believe me? I challenge you to try next year.
Happy one!