grapes

So, I was on the phone with Pachacutec earlier and he was telling me about a Spanish New Year's custom that goes a little something like this:

Spain

The Puerta del Sol in 2005 New Year's Eve

The Puerta del Sol in 2005 New Year's Eve

Spanish New Year's Eve (Nochevieja, or Fin de Año) celebrations usually begin with a family dinner, traditionally including shrimps and lamb or turkey. Spanish people believe that to wear red underwear on New Year's Eve brings you good luck.

Oops.  Mine are blue. 

The actual countdown is primarily followed from the clock on top of the Casa de Correos building in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid. It is traditional to eat 12 grapes, one on each chime of the clock. This tradition has its origins in 1909, when grape growers in Alicante thought of it as a way to cut down on the large production surplus they had had that year. Nowadays, the tradition is followed by almost every Spaniard, and the 12 grapes have become synonymous with the New Year. After the clock has finished striking twelve, people greet each other and toast with sparkling wine such as cava or champagne, or alternatively with cider.

Now, the way that Pach described this to me is that for each grape you eat, you make a wish.  So, tonight, rather than going with the usual grubby, Calvinist New Year's Resolution (in which we pledge futilely to deny ourselves some cherished pleasure or take on some new "character-building" misery like working out), I am going to make twelve New Year's wishes and share them with you.  I like this idea, kind of devouring the twelve months of the new year, with the future bursting deliciously on the tongue rather than yawning wide before us with a fresh new set of worries and obligations.

And so, without further ado, here are my twelve wishes for 2007:

1. Troops home now.   I think this goes without saying.  At this point, whether we "win" or "lose" in Iraq is irrelevant.  Whatever is going to happen there is going to happen.  Hell, it's already happening.  Let's lose as few of our fighting men and women in the process as possible.

2. Accountability.  I hope that the unprecedented rise in executive powers during the Bush presidency is met in 2007 by an unprecedented course of punitive action against the executive branch and the reassertion of checks and balances in our government.  The Bush Dynasty may never fully receive its just desserts for the horrors they have unleashed upon the world, but how about in 2007 we make an effort to get that process started, at least?

3. Help for the poor.  I wish that the country would wake up to the urgent poverty problem that we have right here at home rather than doing a lot of self-righteous posturing about how badly other nations are treating their people.

4. Health for my family and friends.  Probably for me the hardest thing about 2006 was the death of my friend Elissa.  In 2007, I pray that all of my loved ones enjoy good health, a minimum of suffering, and a year full of joy, comfort, and pleasure.

5. Health for me.  I pray that God will continue to bless me with a body that's happy and healthy like all the other years of my life thus far.

6. Friendships.  I hope I make lots of interesting new friends this year and continue to enjoy the wonderful friends that I have.

7. Serenity.  I know that it would be futile to pray that nothing bad happens in 2007, but I hope to be able to face the inevitable calamities with the untouchable, implacable calm of a glacial lake.  It beats screaming and running around waving your arms in the air, I've found.  

8. Continued confusion, disarray, and acrimony among the Right Wing.  It's schadenfreudelicious!

9. The bottom falls out of Fox News.  Would it be too much to ask that a series of devastating scandals and humiliating financial disasters plague this cornerstone of the Great Reich Wing Stink Machine until it collapses in on itself?

10. A Democratic Party that I can be proud of.  Sigh.  If you're going to dream...

11. Increased freedom, human rights, and personal dignity.  For all people, everywhere, I pray for freedom, self-determination, and equality.

12. Massive on-camera flame-outs for Right Wing Public Figures.  So that my job as an Internet Smart-Ass can continue to be as damned exciting and entertaining as it is.

And that's about it.  New clothes and shoes, of course.  (Of course!)  And world peace.  Whenever the fuck that'll happen.  And sex.  And a pony.

But yeah, and for you, a Happy New Year!  Thanks for all your love and support in 2006!!  Whoo-hoooo!!

Take care, and feel free to consider this thread a wishing well.  What are you wishing for this new year?  Tell us all about it.  Go on, don't be shy!  You're among friends.