NEW YEAR'S DAY
New Year's Day and New Year’s Eve, known in Poland as Sylwester marks the start of the carnival period, which features celebratory events like balls and parties. A fun tradition that has been popular for centuries is the kulig (sleigh rides). Many people in Poland celebrate New Year’s Day with dances, concerts, and meals featuring traditional Polish dishes including bigos (hunter’s stew).
THE BEFANA (EPIPHANY)
The Befana is an ugly old woman dressed in ragged apparels, she looks like a witch and, as a witch she flies around on a broom, sometimes with her cat, but, on the night between the 5° and the 6° of January, in Italy, Befana comes through the chimneys to leave sweets to the children. However, if they have been naughty, she leaves coal instead. On the evening of the 5° of January children hang socks somewhere in the house, the following morning they find them full of sweets .... or coal !
GREAT UNION
Every year, on January 24, the Romans celebrated the Great Union. One of the most famous hore is the Hora Unirii (Hora of the Union), which became a Romanian patriotic song as a result of being the hymn when Wallachia and Moldavia united to form the Principality of Romania in 1859.