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New Years in Brazil

Filed under: Lisa in Brazil - February 2nd, 2006

This past new years from 2005-2006 I was lucky enough to have spent it in Ubatuba, Brazil. Ubatuba is a small beach town about 3.5 hours from Sao Paulo City.

The day of the 31st I spent soaking up the Brazilian sun on a beach called Tenorio. I was there with several of my Brazilian friends and one friend from home. We ate shrimp and fish, played volleyball and drank ice cold refreshing beer. Around 5 we packed up and headed back to the house to shower and have dinner.

At about 9:30 we decided to head down to long beach. We all walked along the sand to find a good spot as we were drinking and laughing. Since its legal to drink alcoholic beverages anywhere in Brazil, most people dont leave their houses without a cooler full of beer, wine and coolers.

When it starts getting closer to midnight, fireworks start exploding and everyone is on their feet. By now, the beach is pretty much packed with people, almost everyone dressed in white which symbolizes a new start to the new year.

At midnight, everyone yells HAPPY NEW YEAR, or FELIZ ANO NOVO as they say it in Portuguese. Everyone kisses and hugs anyone within range. After all the kisses we all run down to the water to jump 7 waves. This is a good luck tradition througout Brazil.