New Year’s is serious business when it comes to getting dressed. It’s the time of the year when the stars realign and everyone gets a fresh start, and you want to make sure you’re planting the correct seeds for the coming year. Here’s how my Brazilian family has done it for as long as I can remember, and how I keep these traditions alive.
Wearing White
In Brazil, we have a particular dress code for New Year’s Eve: all-white fits. It doesn’t matter the city, gender, or socioeconomic background - the entire country partakes in the tradition. I find NYE parties abroad extremely bizarre without the characteristic crowd in white. But where does this come from, you ask?
The truth is that no one knows, after all, Brazil is infused with European, African, and Native Indigenous roots. Umbanda is just that - a uniquely Brazilian religion that combines ancient African Candomblé traditions with Spiritism and monotheistic Roman Catholicism. Throughout the last century, a few different Umbanda sects started to also celebrate orixá (goddess, saint) Iemanjá on the dawn of January 1st - instead of only on Iemanjá’s day, February 2nd. On rituals, practitioners wear white to symbolize peace, purity, and openness to the divine, potentially explaining why the nation adopted the color as the official NYE attire.
The loose end is how and why the first day of the year was included as a second day for Iemanjá’s Umbanda ritual - and how a religion with a surprisingly small following, under 500 thousand, got the 7th largest population in the world to buy in. Imagine deciding to add another Christmas or Yom Kippur to the calendar. And suddenly have everyone be interested!
The symbolic message of the color white carries such a strong and universal meaning of peace and purity, that sometimes, it doesn’t matter whose idea it was, we just want it to catch on. The tradition during Jewish New Year and Holy Days is also to wear white. This year, especially, my only wish is for greater tolerance around the whole world.
New & Colorful Underwear
Tradition number two is even harder to pinpoint. During New Year’s there’s a tradition to buy new clothes and wear an all-new ensemble, from shoes to shirts and even fresh undergarments. When choosing panties, there’s an extra layer of symbolism, also attached to color. You are supposed to pick a hue that represents your wishes for the coming year. Yellow attracts wealth, Pink passion, Red love, Green hope, and so on. If you can’t choose, you can mix and match or even layer to achieve your ideal manifestation. I am still researching what color will better represent my wishes for health and prosperity for the birth of my daughter.
I don’t fully join this custom because every holiday has already become an excuse to shop, and I’m very proud to outfit repeat as many times as possible looking to relive great moments through my clothes. This year I have even taught my clients how to do the same and complement their wardrobes with vintage and thrift finds.
When it comes to underwear, however, it is another story. Secondhand intimates sound even worse than secondhand smoking. I am happy to wear ripped jeans and mended cardigans, but the instant a toe pops through a hole while trying to put on my lace panties, I feel horrible. Sustainability is a solid #2 styling priority, right after the #1 goal of making us feel amazing. Lingerie is the leading, top place to put this in practice because more often than not, it’s something you do exclusively for you.
So every year, I use the upcoming year, to get rid of tight, ripped, stained, yucky undies and replace them with a fresh batch for the coming year. It’s a real superpower. And needless to say, of course, I pick a new undie with a special color for NYE. It’s nothing but another excuse for prayer.
Good Luck Amulets
The last tradition, also based on superstition and manifestation, is all about bringing everything you’ve got. A Patuá is a collection of good luck charms bundled together that came from Umbanda and also made it to the mainstream Brazilian culture.
Your collection should reflect your likes, background, and religious beliefs. My mom has amulets of four different saints and a star of David. While I also have the Magen David, I wear it with a Hamsa, a tiny baby angel, and two heart pendants that belong to each of my grandmothers. I especially like collecting jewelry from my family and mixing different traditions. The more the merry.
I find it particularly beautiful that there is so much overlap between faiths that one amulet can represent positivity in many cultures at once. In ancient Rome, a bag of lentils would be given with the hopes it would become a bag of gold coins, a custom passed on through my Italian lineage. In the Bible, lentil soup is served right before Jacob is given the blessing of the firstborn to become the father of the Jewish people, starting the tradition of wearing round patterns and eating round foods during Rosh Hashanah. In Brazil, eating lentils is also a New Year’s tradition, as so is wearing amulets around a circle chain for continuity.
It’s also a lovely gift to put together for someone.
I hope you enjoy my little traditions.
Let me know if you get the chance to incorporate them in any way. The thought you put in when getting dressed should always be a blessing, a mantra, a positive manifestation of the day ahead. Call it faith, mental health, self-confidence. You choose. Tomorrow night, we get the opportunity to incorporate all our wishes for an entire year in a single outfit.
What’s your plan?
No words to thank you enough for the first full year of Mind of Gabriela. Your readership, questions, and comments helped me navigate my most challenging year yet. I can’t wait for what 2024 will bring!
Happy New Year!!!
Adorei seu texto, outro dia li que as pessoas criaram o hábito de ir a praia no ano novo com ropuas brancas para agradecer a Yemanjá e pular 7 ondas no mar, invocar os poderes da rainha do mar para abrir caminhos para o próximo ano. Outro texto diz que o hábito de usar branco veio dos italianos. Não importa qual a origem mas vamos vestir branco torcendo para que venha a paz e tenhamos um mundo mais tolerante 🕊️
Brazil is such a beautiful country with such a rich culture! Loved the meaning behinds the looks for the new year 🫶