Christmas in Lebanon: New Year’s Eve and Day

Both Muslim and Christian Lebanese celebrate New Year’s Eve on December 31. Some people go out to elegant restaurants and night clubs. Among the more traditionally minded, families visit each other on New Year’s Eve, sitting up late to sing, dance, tell jokes and stories, and to play games, especially cards and other games of chance. Superstition hints that these games may reveal one’s fortune for the coming year. Fathers sometimes distribute a small sum of money to their children on New Year’s Eve. These gifts express their hope to provide well for them in the coming year. Some Lebanese children receive presents on New Year’s Day rather than on Christmas.