Weird New Years Traditions, Trivia and Resolutions! - Ep 73

Hey everybody, welcome to the Rayhart Rundown. What is happening? It is New Year's Eve. Happy New year, everybody's. Getting ready for the new year's countdown. Totally awesome. New year's countdown. I think we'll do the countdown at the end of the show. Yeah. So that way if you want to ring in the new year with the ring of rundown, you can you have that ability. So the course, the games and the information, check the description to see when to start. Yeah. When does time start is yeah. So that you know exactly when to start the episode so that you can count down the new year. So if you're listening to this in the morning, you may have to stop it now anyway. But let me rewrite let me reiterate some stuff from last episode. From the Christmas episode because last week was the Christmas episode. Yeah. So we hope you all had a great Christmas, a great holiday. Got everything that you ever didn't need. And I have looked up and pulled up on my computer here a couple of odd things because I was curious and so of course I binged it and I found 13 of the world's weirdest Christmas traditions. Oh, cool. So I was like, oh, let's see if we can figure out if any of them could be done because a lot of these ones are like region exclusive. I don't see what I'm saying. The first one being Japan. Here. All I want for Christmas is KFC. Yes, we talked about that. Yeah. Again, that's why I'm getting out of the way now due to a combination of tiny Japanese ovens and clever marketing campaigns convincing locals that fried chicken is a traditional American Yuletide feast. So everybody wants KFC. Okay. Not me. Norway number two. Norway. Norwegians believe that Christmas Eve coincides with the arrival of evil spirits and witches. So it's only logical then that Norwegian householders hide all their brooms before they go to sleep because nothing spoils Christmas quicker than finding your broom and broken pieces on the floor. I don't know. I would assume that they would steal it. Yeah. The idea is that they hide the brooms so that witches and stuff can't use them to break havoc, I guess, and fly around the fucking room. I don't know. Weird, but that's Norway. Venezuela. Here we go. In the week leading up to Christmas, Venezuelans attend a daily Church service called Misa de engunado. I'm not sure I said that right. But it basically means early morning mass. It is customary to travel to the Church service on roller skates. Okay. So even though like, oh, yeah, they're going to Church. No roller skates to the point where major roads in the capital are closed until 08:00 a.m. So people can roller-skate to Church. Okay. Yeah. Number nine, Austria. So Austria has to deal with facing your Christmas demons. In Austria, Saint Nicholas has an evil counterpart. You know this Krampus, correct. He's the bad cop to St. Nick's. Good cop. Right. And what's his job? Do you know what his job is? He's the one that kidnaps the bad boys and girls. He punishes bad children before Christmas. So men dressed in evil devil costumes roaming the streets carrying chains and a basket for abducting especially bad children and hauling them to hell. So, yeah, so leading up to Christmas, these dudes dress up like Krampus. Keep all the kids in line, dude. Genius. Yeah, really genius. Because then. Because over here, it's just all like, hey, Santa's watching you. Santa's watching you. And the kids are like, Fuck, Santa. Like what? I'm fine. Don't bring me a present. Bring me coal, whatever. Great. Yeah, exactly. Over there, it's all like, Krampus is watching you. It's like, I'm going to hell. Yeah. There's a demon devil guy coming to get you. And there he is. There's a picture. You know what I'm saying? Right. Okay, so I'm going to skip one of these ones. That's super bizarre. Remind me to go back to it because it's way over the top. Okay. I think it should be like, the number one, but it's not number five. But here we go. Number six, though, Christmas dinner you'll never forget in Greenland. Next time you find yourself complaining about your grandmother's festive Brussels sprouts, spare a thought for the poor types in Greenland. So each Christmas, they have to tuck into Matak, which is raw whale skin with a little blubber and kivakka. Kiviak. Maybe again, butchering words, which is made by wrapping in small Arctic bird in seal skin, burying it for several months and then eating its decomposed flesh. Hey, Greenland, what the fuck? Get some KFC. Holy crap. No, thanks. You? Yeah, I'm good. In Guatemala, cleanliness is next to Godliness because the locals believe that the devil and other evil spirits live in the dark, dirty corners of your home. And they spend the week before Christmas sweeping up and collecting rubbish and then piling everything in a huge heap outside and setting it on fire. I like that tradition. It's called Lakima del DA Diablo. Burning of the devil. I think we should do that one. The idea for Guatemalans is to burn all the bad from the previous year and start a new year from out of the Ashes. So, yeah, they go around, they get all the stuff that they all are junk, all their garbage and stuff they don't want, and they burn it. All right, I think we should do that once a month. Once a month? Yeah. So in Ukraine, next one. In addition to the standard tinsel, fairy lights and, of course, candy Canes, Ukraine like to throw an artificial Spider and web on the tree. Have you heard of this? Do you know about this? Yeah. All right, so the tradition has its origins in an old tale of a poor woman who couldn't afford to decorate a tree and woke up Christmas morning to discover a Spider had covered an Inglorious sparkling web. So it's like Charlotte's web of Christmas, of Christmas time. Okay. But it's supposed to be for good luck, not for the poor housekeeping situation like we saw in Guatemala, but in the Ukraine, having a Spider web on your tree is supposed to be good luck. Now, our family, you know what we used to put in the tree for good luck? No, I don't remember. So dad would put wooden birds. Yeah, the tree for good luck, right? Yeah. I just always assumed it was just an ornament. Right. And so you put the Wood birds. I think it's either from Germany or Holland, but it's wooden birds. And then some years later and this was out of pure coincidence. I'm not even sure. But someone gave me a bird's nest with little three little golden eggs in it. And you put that in your Christmas tree and it brings you good luck. So dad had the birds, I ended up with the nest. And so every year I would put the nest in the tree for good luck. It's not an ornament. It's not like you hang it and people can see it, right. Like I would bury it into the branches. So it's a symbolic thing, right. So I thought that was pretty cool. So I get the whole Spider web in the Ukraine thing. Totally. I understand it Portugal, they feed dead people, particularly. Okay. So sometimes, basically, the family sets out an extra place at the dinner table for relatives that have passed in the previous year. Okay. You get what I'm saying? Yeah. So it's the practice will ensure good fortune for the household and any crumbs left on the floor as well. And you thought feeding all your relatives was hard enough. Now you have to feed the dead ones. Sorry. It's like pour out some liquor from my homies. Yeah, exactly. Same situation. Okay, number ten, real quick. Again, there's only 13 of these. Number ten, Italy, where Santa's little helper is an old witch. So unable to conclusively prove the existence of Santa, the Vatican decided to throw its weight behind something. They had countless dealings with an old witch called Bafana who delivers presents to kids in Italy. The story goes that three wise men invented the witch to accompany them to see baby Jesus. She said she was too busy and the legend was born. Born. Sorry. Okay. Bored? No, she is bored. So basically Italy was like, yeah, this lady couldn't go. Good job. Way to incorporate Jesus and Santa. One story, Czech Republic. Here on Christmas Eve, unmatched check. Women stand with their back to the door and toss one of their shoes over their shoulder. If it lands with the toe facing the door, it means that they will be married within the year. If it lands with a heel facing the door, they're in for another year of basically watching Bridget Jones diaries. It's a way to turn Christmas into. Okay, what does it mean when the shoes are hanging from the electrical lines? You could buy drugs. I mean, she's going to get high. Fuck it. Oh, here we go. The evening of 5 December, German children leave a boot or a shoe outside their bedroom door. Remember we talked about this in the last episode? This is actually on here in the morning. If they've been good, they'll wait to find the shoes filled with sweets. If they haven't, they'll only find a branch. So there you go. So they just get sticks in there. They get a stick in their boat. You want a stick in your shoe or you want candy? I have a dog. You're screwed. Worst. Yes, exactly. Cool. And they'll be chewed up and fucked. Good job.

Here's. Second to last one. Here we go. Spain. I remember this one. Surprisingly enough, but it's more elaborate. In the small town of La Font de la Figura, it's taking the tradition one step further. So what it is, is it's customary to wear red underwear on New Year's Eve? Okay, yeah, no big deal. But in that small town in Spain, on New Year's Eve, run with the runners. Just wearing the red underwear. Okay. And they just run around the town. Sounds like a good time, but the town actually has the highest incident of pneumonia in the country. All right, so there's that. Let me go back to the one I was telling you. I saved the last one. Let me take a drink of my soda here before it gets gross because it's about to hurt. Totally disrespectful to drink while doing a podcast. Don't care. Here we go. Catalan, Catalonia. Okay. Okay. Locals in Catalonia create a character out of a log, jarring a face on it and giving it a hat. Mr. Stick, Mr. Twig. Mr. Log. Then they spend a fortnight feeding it fruits and nuts and sweets. Now, how long is a Fortnight? Four weeks. Cool. On Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, the entire family beats the log with sticks and sings a traditional song that translates to if you don't crap. Well, I'll beat you with a stick until the log explodes like a piñata all its streets. Okay. I don't know why we don't do this everywhere. They also decorate their Nativity scenes with small pooping ceramic figures from well known characters drawn from the previous year. And all the characters in the Nativity scene have their pants down around their ankles. Okay. I feel like I've seen it's literally called the defecating log. Okay, maybe that's where Mr. Hanky came from. I don't know. But apparently you got to beat the shit out of his log to get candy. It's the world's grossest piñata. Yeah, it's pretty fucking sick. There you go. Some 13 weirdest Christmas traditions. I had to. So people did that apparently last week. So somebody beat the shit out of the log, ate KFC, hid their brooms roller-skated to Church, eight dead birds and burn shit in their yard. Cool. I'm still up for burning shit in the yard. I think we should do it. That's your favorite of all the weird stuff. Yeah. Take all of your old crap, have a bonfire party. It sounds fucking great. Sounds amazing. Sounds great. I agree 100%. Okay, moving on. So we only have a couple of games to play today for our New Year's episode here because I do have fun New Year's trivia. Okay. As well as more traditions. Just general not weird, but just general traditions for new years around the world. Okay. But let's play a game or two before we get into the people where they get to learn shit. Okay. Before we start knowledge dropping on people around here. Okay. So we're going to play this or that. Okay. One of our fun games here. So are we going to use like we do? We're going to use the date. Sure. Okay. We're going to do New Year's. So 1230, 112, 31. Let's find it here somewhere in this book. I can't realize it's numerical, actually. Okay. This is kind of stupid, but here we go. 1231. Ready? Yeah. This or that. Jog.

See, like you want to jog, but you already have a look of exhaustion. The thought of jogging right now. I'm tired. I want to throw up. I power walk pretty much everywhere I go. People say I walk fast. Yeah, we all do. It's almost like a freaking family trait to walk Mach two just to get where you're going. So yeah, power walk for sure. Power walk. All right. So then I'm going to ask you another one here. Follow up. Ready? So this or that. Exercise in the morning or the evening.

I mean, it's best to exercise in the morning. Correct. It fires you up, get your endorphins going. You can get through the rest of your day. But I always have a tendency of doing it in the evening because I'm too tired to work out when I first wake up. So I just do my day and then I go after I'm done. I used to work out immediately after work. Yeah. As soon as I left work, I would go right to the gym, which was still morning for you. Sort of. It was like I mean, it was theoretically it would be morning for me. I'd be working out at 03:00 A.m.. Yeah. Well, which I also used to do when I get off work at the bar, I would go to the gym and then get work out to like four or five, go home, shower, go to sleep. We got to do year's resolutions of losing weight this year. I do it every year. That's my plan. Yeah, that's my plan. I work out every year from January to March, and I go out for my birthday first quarter, and then I'm showing off the gains and I'm done. Here's what this is whatever age. This is what 31 looks like right now. Okay. I'm done. Yeah. I'm always in the best shape of my life on my birthday. And then I'm done. And then that's it. And then I go back to not being in the best shape of my life. Well, there you go. Alright. So here we go. Questions all about me. We're going to go also the 12th. So number 1231 about questions. Here we go. What part of your day is your favorite? It's an odd one, but interesting. So what part of your day is your favorite? Like, everybody's got a favorite part of the day, right? When you wake up? No. Right before I go to bed. Just going to bed. Yeah. It's the best part of my day. Just being tired, just going to bed. Days over. I'm going to lay down, I'm going to turn on a show and I'm going to enjoy it and pass the fuck out and hope to wake up eventually. Eventually, yeah. In a whole new life where I don't have day jobs and I'm just an international podcaster. They talked about the golden hour during the day. No. So you never heard of the golden hour? No. So it's in the evening. There's like a time when the sun is setting. It's like a really small window. Like an hour. Okay. When the sun is setting and everything turns like this, usually it really happens, especially after a rainstorm. But everything turns like that. Like a pretty yellow hue. Yeah. It's like the golden hour. It's what they call the golden hour. Okay. Most days that's where I'm like, I wish it was like this all the time. I don't know if it was just the way everything looks or the way everything feels or whatever. Again, where you live in Florida. So we're kind of spoiled. But I always like that the way the aesthetic is outside. So it makes me calm. Like it calms me down. Right. The only other time is probably again, like we said, like right before going to bed. Yeah. But see, I'm the type that I can't turn the TV on. I'm the type where I shut everything off. It's dark, it's pitch black, and then I can just shut off. Yeah, I watch you do it. Turn on Christmas night. Yeah, Christmas day, you were on the couch, you still had the Nintendo Switch in hand in hand. And then your head went back. You're like, man, I'm so tired. And you were snoring. Let me take a break, dude. And then I looked at Jen and I was like, that didn't take long. And then you just continued. You literally took like a 32nd nap and I was fine. It was crazy, but it's uncanny. I have the ability to, I want to say sleep anywhere but like sleep. Standing up sleep. Oh, I've done that. So I've fallen asleep standing in the shower. I woke up to the cold water hitting me. Ran out, fall asleep on the toilet. Of course, I think everyone's kind of done that at some point in time in their life. I've done it when I was sick. Oh, no. I did it like I woke up like you're like I did it yesterday. Yeah. Like time to go to work, got a shit shower, shave, and then you're like you said on the toilet, and then you're just like, you turn the shower on or whatever, like getting ready to start your day, and then next thing you know, you wake up. You're way past that. But I was standing up in the shower, I think was my most impressive. And then I woke up to. I was still just standing there. I wasn't leaning on nothing. I was out, bro. And then I think everybody's done to fall asleep at the wheel. Yeah, I fall asleep. That's the scariest. I think the scariest for me is being so tired where you get to home or you get to work or whatever, and you go, I don't remember any of the drive. Okay. So actually, that's called microsleep. So whenever you take your driver's test, it's in your driver's test now, okay? Because I had gotten some sort of ticket and I took the test so that I didn't get any points to raise my insurance. This was years ago. But, like, on the test, they actually talk about microsleeping because usually with that test, I just skip everything because the answers are so fucking easy on a driver's test. Like, you could pass it without reading a single fucking thing, right? Like, for example, it's like, what do you do when you're coming up to a toll bridge? Do you A, gun it up to 80 and throw your money at the toll collector? Yes. Or B, gun it up to 80. C, slow down and prepare to stop. Or D, turn around. D, turn around. You know what I mean? Yeah, turn around. But no. So it's the most easiest fucking test in the world, right? But I'm skipping through. And then I got to a section about microsleep, and I was all like, oh, I'm actually kind of interested in this because I did it all the time, right. When I was a computer tech, I would fall asleep behind the wheel when I leave the office and I'd wake up in Marco Island. It was like an hour and a half drive. Yeah, that's a while. Yeah. Oh, dude, I was out. Don't remember the entire. It was seriously, like, I left the office and then I was in Marco immediately because I felt a microsleep. It's your body shuts down all brain activity except for your basic motor functions that you need to drive. That's scary. It happens because I work early morning, so it happens more often than not. Where you just go? Yeah. I've been trying to listen to more comedy, other comedy podcasts to try to keep my brain active, like laughing or carrying on or whatever, you know, to try to keep it so I don't do that. So that's what I've been doing in the mornings just because I work so damn early. And I prefer to work early because I hate dealing with this is why I'll probably never move to La. But I hate dealing with traffic. So working early mornings, there's nobody on the road. This is before school buses and people. And it's like 04:00 to 05:00 in the morning. But no. Yeah, when I was in high school, I mastered the art of sleeping in class as well. So I would have my notebook in my lap open. So for, like, reading from our textbook or whatever, I would have it in my lap, leaning against the desk, and I would fold my arms and put my head down and it looked like I was just reading my textbook. No, dude, I was out. You're gone cold, bro. One day I woke up, and I know you can't see it because we're not on the video portion yet. But, dude, one day, you know how you can hear everything around you but you're still sleeping, right? I heard. So we go, he's going to get a Crick in his neck because, like, straight up, bro, I was like, this just like, fucking out. Take a photo. Take a photo. Let me take a photo. I should post it on Instagram is what I should do. Got it. Yeah. So, like, dude, I was out, and then I woke up. As soon as I heard that, I actually woke up, I was like, Hi, Hello.

It was crazy. Oh, I fell asleep at work. This was probably a couple of months ago standing up behind the bar. Did anyone find out? I mean, they did down. No, my key holder, the guy who was key holding for the day. Because I want to say this was right before I caught Covet. So I think it might have been when I was starting Covet and I was like, just super tired. Yeah. Because I was taking pseudo Fed. But I accidentally took pseudo fed PM before I was working. I remember that day. Yeah, we talked about it. I think it was on another earlier episode. But, yeah, I took a pseudo Fed PM before work, thinking time. And bro, like, straight up, I leaned against the fucking the cooler, whatever, folded my arms, put my head down, and I was fucking like, I had a dream. And I remember the dream. Oh, you went as far as to have a dream? I had a dream. And I fucking woke up behind the bar to my buddy Charleston, who was key holding at the time. And he walks over, he goes, Dude, I just watched you sleep for 15 minutes on the camera. I was like, yeah, sorry. He goes, did you have a good nap? I was like, dude, this is suit of 08:00 p.m.. I was like, I had a dream, though. He's like, oh, yeah? What'd you dream about, Adam? I was like, I had a dream that I got initiated into the Sons of Anarchy.

He's like, oh, yeah. Well, that didn't happen. And you're like, I know, because otherwise they'd be in here getting free drinks and kicking your ass. That's right.

No. The only time I ever fell. I have kind of a similar story, though, now that you say that. The only time I fell asleep at work was so many years ago. I mean, like, 2008. Okay. First time I'd ever done the early shift, the 04:00 a.m. Start work at 04:00 in the morning shift. And I was a manager, and I was not used to getting up that early. So I was clearly like, I was not adjusted yet. And I remember sitting down in the office in the morning when we get started, I sat down in the office, and I'm going on the computer to set up whatever. I don't know what it was to set up the scheduling system or whatever. And that's all I remember. And an hour and a half later, one of the other employees comes into the office, and it's all like, hey, Bob. I'm like, what? They're like, everybody's seen that you're dragging ass today, and we all just let you sleep in here. Nice. Yeah. Like, my employees that for that. At the time that year or whatever, they kind of have my back because they knew I was adjusting. They knew I was getting used to it. So they were like, hey, we let you go, but you can't be doing it every night. I'm like, dude, I didn't even know I did it. No, I mean, I've taken naps at work. Like multiple naps at work. But I wasn't clocked in for the exception of the one where I was standing behind the bar. But usually whenever we're working the long double shifts, which everyone else I think is like a triple because it's like 16 hours shifts. Yeah. But whenever I work those usually another bartender will come in, and then they'll look at me and be like, Yo, Adam, go take an hour, right? Well, now I live in a minute walk from work, right? So now I just go home. But before I live so far away, I was like, by the time I get home, I'm going to have to just turn around and come right back, right? So I used to climb up into the liquor room and curl up into a fucking ball in the corner of the liquor room. Liquor room is like an attic above the bar. Yeah, okay. It's above the office, whatever. But it is like a short little thing. It's a loft type of thing. And there's just liquor everywhere. There's not enough room for me to even lay down and be completely straightened out. I had to curl up, but I fucking curled into a ball, and I would just lay down off into the corner and usually scare the hell out of anybody who goes up there because they're not expecting there's just a guy sleeping in his corner. You guys, there's a creepy man up here sleeping like, yeah, that's the boss. It's Adam. But I would go up there, dude, and I would pass the fuck out. Like, even loud music, people talking didn't bother me. I was out. And that's the benefit to falling asleep with the TV on, talking about sleeping at work. I had an employee. I'm not going to say his name, but I had an employee. I think I remember the story. He worked for me, and he was sleeping in his car. Oh, never mind. No, you don't know the story. He was sleeping in his car. So he was supposed to be in the work at five. Managers are always supposed to be there at four. But he was supposed to be working five. And he pulls up and he's sleeping. I guess it was like, running on, like, 515. And I was like, he hasn't come in the building yet. Let me go out and check on him. So I go out and I see him, and I'm like, Yo. And knock on his window. And I'm like, hey. I was like, It's 515, bro. I was like, Come on, get up. Let's get started. Let's go. He's like, okay, I'll be right there. I'll be right there. And I'm like, okay. And 530 still not in the building. I go back out. He's still in his car, still asleep. And I'm like, Yo, it's 530 at this point. You're 30 minutes now, late to work. Like, we have to have a discussion, quote, unquote, when you come inside, okay? He's like, yeah. And he sits up in his car, he opens the door. So I'm like, okay. He's least now coherent and paying attention, puts his foot out. And I'm like, okay. I'll see inside. He's like, okay, 06:00 now. Nobody. I'm like, what the. Where's this guy, right? I go outside, car's gone. He's left. And I call him. And I was like, hey, I was like, what happened? I said, Look, I was giving you the benefit of the doubt. Here's the thing. I already talked to him, and I knew he was doing strength training and bodybuilding, right? So he was doing 8 hours at the gym on top of a regular job. Oh, wow. So I don't know when he was sleeping, other than not never, because 8 hours at work and 8 hours at the gym. And then he had another job where I think he was doing photography or something for, like, part time situation. So I was like, I get it. And I'm trying to help you so you can continue to make all the money and not enough to walk away, but you got to meet me halfway here. Like, I'm willing to be flexible with you. He's like, no, he's like, listen, man, he's like, I'm not even going to put you in that predicament. He's like, I can't do that early stuff, man. It's just killing me. It's not worth it. I'm like, okay, cool. Fast forward ten years later ten years later he was at I'm going to bleep out the names he was at daughter's wedding. Oh, no shit, he was a photographer. Oh, no shit. That kid. Him and his girl. Yeah, it was that photography that they had started. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. Good for him, man. So long story short, he got to do what he wanted to do. But again, that's probably the only time I've ever had to be like I try to give an employee like, a pass a little bit. You know what I'm saying, right? But then I've that just became an asshole. And now I hate everyone. No.

So we got some New Year's traditions. Some New Year's traditions kiss someone at midnight. It's the American way. Yeah. A lot of them have to do. Have to do with wanting luck for the the next year. I noticed that it was like a lot of places that have to do with luck. So I'm going to go over them fairly quickly because I'm not going to get into details of each one. I can do the basics of it here just so we're not. I don't want to bore people with this stuff because they don't care, you know? But one of the ones is in Brazil, they wear white. The color signifies luck and prosperity, and it's been to Ward off bad spirits.

The other thing they do is even though they're wearing you think, oh, they're wearing white. No big deal. But they go to the beach and they try where they have to jump seven waves while wearing white. Okay. Because that's apparently seven is a lucky number in Brazil. And then the water is supposed to be the flow of good fortune to the goddess of the sea. Okay. Yeah. Fun. Good times. Go to the beach and you're close. Cool. The spring festival in China. Chinese New Year. Of course, so many traditions. It's a plethora of traditions. Yeah, lots of course. Red decorations that symbolize good luck and good fortune for the Chinese New Year. You see the red lanterns to Ward off bad luck. Paper cut outs they hang on the walls. They always do fireworks to scare off evil spirits. Okay, let's just be fair. Fireworks are just fun. Yeah. Let's be honest. Who doesn't like to blow shit up? Speaking of. Are we blowing shit? No, not speaking of blowing shit up. Speaking of Chinese Dragons. Chinese New Year's Dragons. Okay. Have you ever been in one? No, I have. Okay. Okay. All right. So when we take secret trips to Chinatown, I wish it was the case. Okay. I realized I just have a story to tell about this. So way back when we lived in Spain, where you were born, when you were just a little baby. Yeah, I remember those days. Yeah. You sure don't. I was in fifth grade, Mr. Merlino's class, and Mr. Merlino was a type of teacher. I don't know if I've talked about him on his podcast before, but he's the type of teacher where every single month he wanted to do something big with the class. Right. He took it on that field trip where you got a flail, right? Yeah, big. Okay. So for the month of January, we were going to do New Year's Chinese Dragon, and we had to make it right. So he's like, I'm going to pick out the best artists in the class, which is like me and these two other kids. And he's like, and I want you to draw a big Dragon face. And then we'll have the class pick out of those three who is the best Drago face? And I was like, okay, so fifth grade, I'm trying to be Mr. Art Guy. So I'm like, super art guy. I draw the best, most badass Dragon face ever. Okay? The class picks it. Mr. Merlino ups the ante and goes, okay, Bob, since they picked your face, you get to be the head of the Dragon. Oh, nice. Yeah. Not the fact, because I was fucking almost six foot tall, but I was the head of the Dragon. So I put my Dragon face went on the front. That was basically a big giant cardboard box. I mean, fifth grade. Come on. Yeah. My picture of the Dragon went on the front of the box, and the other two guys went on the sides. And then I was in the front, and then the entire class had to color and put streamers for the entire length of the train or the Dragon. And then, of course, they got under that part. So the first day back, New Year's, we literally marched around the school for almost the entire day in this Chinese New Year's Dragon, throwing candy to the fourth, third, and second graders out of this. And it was like one of those things where it's like, you're in fifth grade, and most fifth graders nowadays would not give a shit, right? Like, fuck all that. But for whatever reason, Mr. Molino made this class give a shit. Okay? So we were more than excited to A, not have to be stuck on our desks, B, to be roaming the halls in a Chinese New Year's Dragon outfit and then C, throwing candy these kids and watching them go berserko. It was fun. Like, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. So you had your own parade. So I had my own parade, and I was a leader. Leader of my own parade. Okay. The leader of your own parade. My own parade. I was a Chinese junior Dragon. I know there's a photo somewhere. I don't have it. It sounds like a My Chemical Romance song.

Okay, moving on. So in Colombia or Fallout boy song. In Colombia, they carry empty suitcases at midnight in hopes of introducing a year rife with travel, and they run around with money in hand to attract financial security. It's like these people get robbed. I got money. In Denmark, they smash plates, smash plates and old dishes. Danish residents saved their unused dinnerware and affectionately shattered them against the door of the family and friends as a way to Ward off bad spirits. So there's that. In Ecuador, they burn effigies, which are like they kind of look like little piñatas of things. The tradition started in, like, 1895 with yellow fever, and they would burn. They were forced to burn coffins packed with the clothes of the infected to try to get rid of the yellow fever. Okay, so weird. This went dark in Greece, the festival of Saint Basil. Basil. Another twins. Basil customary Greek tradition is consuming a St. Basil's cake. The cake is baked with a silver or gold coin inside. And whoever finds the coin in their slice is considered especially lucky in the coming year. So as long as you don't swallow the Penny, you're good. Japan practices Oshi. Okay. Most important holiday. Oh, yeah. I know what that is. I know you do. It's the most important holiday in Japan. Most important, it symbolizes renewal and bidding farewell to problems of the previous year. What's it called again? It's called Oshogatsu. Oshogatsu. Okay. And on December 31, Buddhist temples strike their gongs 108 times. Each ring representing one of the 108 earthly temptations a person must overcome to achieve Nirvana and expel wrong deeds. 108 earthly temptations. Okay, it's just 108. Apparently, there's 108 earthly temptations. So I get to keep it after the first time. There's no list here of what they are, so couldn't tell you, but anything after 108, I get to keep right? Dude, guess what the Netherlands do. Guess what the Dutch do now? You would think so, but no, the Dutch. The Dutch do fireworks and explode things. Yeah, fuck, yeah. Are triggered across major cities for hours at a time. Described as many as chaotic bursts of light. And they set cars and Christmas trees on fire. Dude, why are we here? Why are we here? Let's just move back to Holland. Another Dutch New Year's tradition is consuming Ole Bolin. You're in Ole Ben. Maybe, but it translates to oil balls. Okay, but they're similar to Donuts. These oil balls are similar to Donuts. And these bite sized balls of fried dough dipped in powdered sugar are sold on street corners and shopping center as a finale to the celebration. This is the big one. As a finale to the celebration. After you eat your Ole Bolin and you set your fucking car on fire. Happy New Year. As a finale to the celebration, swimmers jump into the freezing waters of the North Sea on New Year's Day. All right, just. There you go. Boom. Let's see. I've only got, like, three more. Here we go. Scotland. Okay. Scotland is a celebration of the most arousing celebrations in the world. Arousing? I thought that's what it said, but that's what they Typed. I don't know. It doesn't seem right because all it is is fire festivals, concerts, street festivals and celebratory acts. But is traditionally known as first footing. The first person who crosses the threshold of our. I don't think I get very turned on. I'm sorry. Hold on. I don't think I get very aroused by first footage. Again, misspelling, thanks for this website. I'm not going to even tell the name. According to the custom, though, the first person who crosses the threshold of another person's home should bring a gift of luck. Traditionally, this gift was a coal for the fire. Is that what's arousing maybe getting around over here because somebody showed up? Yeah, I got something for good luck. Yeah. Hey, this one I knew about in Spain when we lived there, we did this. Actually, the most prominent New Year's tradition in Spain involves grapes. Have you heard about this? Do you know about this one yet? Jesus Christ, Jimmy. No, I have not. Each year they partake in this annual tradition of eating grapes for every toll of the clock. At midnight, they consume one grape, twelve grapes total to represent good luck for each month of the year. So you mean like with daylight savings? No, that would be 13 grapes. But no, they would do twelve grapes. So as the clock strikes midnight, Bong one grape, Bong two grapes, Bong three grape number three. And it goes twelve times. Yeah, the clock strikes all the way to twelve midnight. Where's the confusion? So I think I just don't know how clocks work. I think that's what the problem is. Let's stop the whole podcast right now, Adam. How clock works. So wait a minute. So when it goes like 01:00, it only goes Bong once. Correct. And when it's 02:00, it Bong twice, you're onto something. And then 03:00 is three times four is four times five. So at twelve, it fucking gongs twelve times. Gongs or bongs. But yeah, I never knew that. You don't have anything in your house that gongs or bongs twelve times. Well, I guess not. Here's the thing. No, Bob, nothing has bonked or gonged in quite a while. Okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? Quite some time. It's been a while. What do you want from me? Much less 12 hours ago. Nothing happened. Twelve times in one night. Okay. There's no Gonging twelve times in one day. That's just crazy. People get hurt. That's right.

You know, how long ago was that gong? Twelve times in the day. Now tell us. Reveal yourself. Can we move on? And you want to stop there? Yeah, we can stop there. I'm pulling a muscle thinking about it. All right. These last two are quick. Ready? Yeah. Switzerland, they drop ice cream on the floor. Okay. Pour out some dairy. Switzerland. Pour out some dairy for your homies, I guess so. Drop a dollop of ice cream on the floor at midnight. Okay? Yeah. And then in the United States. What do they do in the United States? What do we all do in the United States? Ball drop. Watch Dick's ball drop. That's right. Every year. Every Clark watch that dude's ball drop every year. And why do they then light off fireworks and make out with people? That's what we do. Why was Dick's ball dropped? Why do they do the ball drop? I don't know. Because his name is Dick and I thought it was a play on boards. No. So they just did it. I don't know why. Because in the early 20th century, fireworks were banned in New York. So they came up with this dropping of the ball situation I thought you were going to go into some scientific things. No. Talking about how the sun is on the opposite side of the Earth. So I don't know.

Sorry. It represents the sun going down to a new year or something. I don't know. There you go. Actually, the US is the only one that sings the song old language, which translates to old. Long ago, the song spread beyond Scotland and the English speaking world, bringing about a sense of belonging and fellowship. I don't even know the words to that song unless you live in South America. In the south of the United States, in which case we're supposed to eat black eyed peas, which symbolize economic prosperity. Ok. What? I've never heard that. I'm supposed to eat black eyed peas. Popular dish known as hop and John. You ever heard of that? You never heard of hop and John? No. Never heard of hopping John? Well, fuck hoping John. Apparently he was not eating black eyed. Apparently he was one of the black eyed peas. I don't know which part. Fergie's backup, I guess. I don't fucking know. Okay, bitch pudding. I got a true false. I got a true false game. Okay, before we wrap the show up here, it's all us because we're getting closer to midnight. If you're listening to us before midnight. Getting closer to midnight. Okay. Got the beginning about to begin. Okay, that was loud. So here we go. True or false? These true or false questions I got for you, Adam, it's 20 of them. We're going to move quickly. Let's go. Okay. I'm going to give you the answer right away. So you got to tell me what your answer is and I'll tell you your name and we got 20 of them. So we'll see. So lightning round, kind of like I said, you can tell me your answer and I'm going to tell you if you're right or wrong. Okay. Okay, here we go. Two or false? First one. The first New Year's Eve ball drop was dropped in Times Square in correct. Wrong, actually. So it was done. You said early 20th century last time. You're right. But it's the year they got stupid with the year because fucking stupid. Yeah.

Sorry. Number two, true or false? 40% of New Year's resolutions fail by February. 40% of New Year's resolutions failed by February. Like that percentage is higher. False. That is correct. The percentage is higher. It's actually 80% of resolutions failed by February. Do you know 85% of statistics are made up. Yeah. Well, I also know the last time you played this game, 60% of the stuff you get. Okay, so, yeah, I said that last time. Perfect. True or false? The traditional New Year's Eve song, Old Langsyne, began as a poem written by John Keats. That is correct. Yes. You literally just told me that it was like an old Scottish thing. Yes. True or false. The Times Square ball weighs 11,875 pounds.

it's actually true. Wow. The original ball actually weighed 700lbs. This new one, the new ball does weigh that much. It's 12ft in diameter and covered in Waterford crystals. Dick's got some big balls with crystals on it. Number five. True or false? The symbol of Baby New Year can be traced back to an ancient Roman tradition.

I know it's an ancient tradition, but I just don't know if it was Roman or not. I want to say it was Chinese, but. So you're saying I'm going to say true. Unfortunately not. It is false. Because you were onto something with what you said, though, because actually it's from a Greek tradition of escorting the baby throughout their villages to honor the Greek God. Okay, number six Romans in Greece. I didn't say it wasn't. I'm just reading what the paper says. The baby New Year's symbol evolved out of the Greek tradition of escorting a baby through the village to honor the Greek God. Okay, it sounds like I was right, but go ahead. It does sound like you're right. It sounds like this paper is dumb. But we're going to keep going because these games don't matter. Okay, here we go. True or false? More than 1 billion people watch the Times Square ball drop ceremony each year. More than 1 million. More than 1 billion. With a B. False. It's actually true. Worldwide audience of more than 1 billion people watch both in person and on TV. Oh, shit. Because there's only 300 million people in the US. I was like, do 700 million people in the world actually care about our balls dropping? I don't think so. Well, they do when they're 11,000 pound balls. The tradition of eating hop and John on New Year's Day is believed to help restore world peace. Didn't we just talk about hoping we did just kind of a Gimme. True. No, it's false. It's false. This is a Southern thing you said. Yes. Eating hopping Johns is believed to bring prosperity and good luck, not restore world peace. There's no world peace restoration happening because you ate six black eyed peas on fucking Tuesday. Dude, if I eat six black eyed peas, the world has accomplished world peace. That's as far as it's going. Yes. Ancient Persians used to give the gift of eggs on New Year's. False. That's true. It symbolizes productiveness. Okay. The concept of a ball dropping to signal the passage of time dates back long before New Year's Eve is celebrated in Times Square. The fuck, Bob? The first known Time ball was built in 33 at Top, England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich. Sure. Time ball. The most popular New Year's resolution for 2021 was exercising more. True or false? The most popular New Year's resolution for 2020, going into 2021, was exercising more, I'm going to say. Yeah. Because everybody was locked in your house, correct? Yeah. Because they were sick of being in their house Wassail is a warm cider like punch with early English origins. That used to be a popular New Year's Eve drink. Say, what was S-A-L-A-I-L is a warm cider like punch with early English origins. That used to be a popular New Year's Eve drink. True? Correct. It's actually a mixture of cider, ale and Mead brewed with spices and apples. Kissing at midnight is a modern tradition. True. It's actually false. According to the Washington Post spooking, someone to celebrate the New Year is a tradition borrowed from English and German folklore. It wasn't a modern thing. That's something. Look at there. I fucking just got knowledge dropped right there. More than £2000 of confetti is typically dropped in Times Square to bring in the New Year. True? That's correct. Hey, make a fucking mess. In some parts of the world, people eat exactly twelve grapes to the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. True. Correct. We just talked about that. It's for Spain. True or false? Cracking open a peppermint pig during the holiday season is believed to bring good fortune in the New Year. True. Correct. This is common practice done with family and friends in upstate New York. True. Revolves during Hogmane, the Scottish New Year celebration. It's tradition to kiss everyone in the room. True. Correct. The idea is to bring together friends and strangers. Everybody gets herpes on their face. Okay. Dick Clark was the first broadcast host of Times Square New Year's Eve celebration. True. No, it's false, actually. So Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians big band hosted New Year's festivities for 48 years starting back in New York's radio broadcast in 1929. So Dick actually picked radio. That's not what you said in the question. I said Dick Clark was the first broadcast host of Times Square's New Year's Eve celebration. Damn it. I thought TV host. You know what? You're right. They fucking got tricky with these questions. I'll give you that. True or false? New Year's Eve is America's second favorite holiday.

True. False. The majority of Americans, 78% actually said Christmas was their favorite holiday. And then Thanksgiving and 4 July came in second and third. New Year's actually came in fourth with 41% of the population declaring it their favorite. Okay, I could give two shits. Here we go. Last two. The true or false? The majority of Americans stay awake until midnight on New Year's Eve. True? That is correct. 12% of Americans fall asleep before midnight. Number 20. Last one. The Times Square ball has been dropped every year since.

Correct. Due to World War II blackouts, Times Square remained dark in 1942 and 43. So it hasn't been every single year. So you got that one right. You literally split this fucking game. I got 50%, 50%. Half the time works every time. 50% of the time. It works every single time. So, yeah. So there you go. So people. Hey, FYI, now you just learned all kinds of stuff about New Year's that you probably doesn't care about that's an accurate statement. Nobody cared. What is this? One out of every four people think it's the best holiday. True. But with that being said, we have to get ready to countdown for the new year. Let's do it. Are you ready? Yeah, I'm ready. Are you psyched? I'm psyched. You look like you're already falling asleep over there. I'm halfway falling asleep. It's been fucked today and you're so fall asleep. Get fucked, bro. I had a long ass day yesterday. I had a five hour shift yesterday and nobody drained me of all of my energy and nobody 5 hours. Nobody's crying for a five hour shift guy. You had to deal with what? I had to deal with 5 hours. He's tired.

Regardless. We're wasting precious time here now just to get to the countdown. Ready? Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It's already too late. Three. Shit. No, I'm just kidding. All right, so here we go. Let's set this up. Okay, here we go. Ready? And 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. Happy new year. All right. There you go. Welcome to 2022.

Way too late. I don't stay up for ever. Thank you guys for hanging out with us before new year. And thank you for listening to us all year long. We can't wait to get started into our 2022 video podcast year. And so check us out, go to YouTube and look us up there. The rate heart run down on YouTube channel. Get ready now so that you are all set to go. And I think you got anything else we want to talk about? Join our Patreon if you want exclusive stuff Because this year is going to be even bigger than last. So go to Patreon.com/rayhartrundown and check us out there. And then of course, if you want to rep our gear and help us out, Rayhartrundownmerch.com. You got it. All right, guys, again, thank you so much for hanging out with us for this new year's little new year's party. We appreciate it. And you guys have a safe and happy new year. Yes. And if you're listening before new year's, please, guys, do not drink and drive, okay? It is the number one year of DUIs. You don't want to be that statistic, correct? Because even though 85% of statistics are made up, that statistic is accurate. Do not drink a drive always Uber. There's a lot of places that are given out rides for free for you to be safe, but yeah, just keep it safe, guys, and we will talk to you all next week. All right, bye now.