New Year's Eve – Sleepless Sardinia!

Things really heat up in Sardinia on New Year's Eve. That's when the whole village celebrates and everyone parties together.

It is a mortal sin to sleep through the turn of the year; according to an old folk saying, those who sleep through New Year's Eve will be punished by life.

It is said that whoever sleeps on New Year's Eve will sleep through the entire coming year! (Chi dorme a capodanno, dorme tutto l’anno!) This beautiful saying carries weight among the superstitious Sardinians, and so you will find everyone up and about, because to prove that you are not sleeping, you have to see, go and be seen!

Of course, the festive menu also plays an important role on New Year's Eve. Unlike at Christmas, this is a time for celebrating together. The restaurants in Budoni have been fully booked for months and serve up one calorie bomb after another. And, as if that weren't enough, at midnight there are stuffed patties with lentils.

This is also based on an old tradition, as lentils symbolise coins. The more you eat, the more money you will receive in the New Year.

However, eating lentils after a sumptuous Sardinian holiday meal is a real challenge. But then again, becoming rich shouldn't be too easy.

My alternative suggestion that salad leaves should be used to symbolise 500-euro notes fell on completely deaf ears. Even the unbeatable argument that salad is much healthier and that a banknote symbol would lead to even greater wealth did not catch on: ‘Traditions are to be respected without opportunistically tampering with them.’ I should not be a killjoy, and surely I want to become rich too.

That was true. Nevertheless, on the day after, faced with treacherous lenses, I swore never again, at any price, to let wealth weigh on my stomach and intestines.

I wish you all a good start to the New Year!

With a Sardinian ‘Adiosu’, I bid you farewell for today.

Joachim Waßmann