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Germany celebrates Silvester with fireworks, champagne, special foods, and boisterous social gatherings. Making noise is key: the ruckus of fireworks, firecrackers, drums, whip-cracking and banging kitchen utensils has been driving away evil winter spirits since the days of the Teutons. One of the most famous firework displays can be found at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Private celebrations with firecrackers and rockets are also common.

As an American put it: "If you were in Germany and had forgotten that it was New Year’s Eve, you might think a war had broken out." The increasing pop-pops, loud booms, and the smell of sulfur reach a climax at midnight of December 31st, when everybody in the country simultaneously shoots off rocket-style fireworks and other explosives. Other than in countries like the USA, public drinking is not prohibited which makes for a fun setup between party mood, corks popping off champagne bottles and fireworks on German streets at midnight.




FOODS
Traditional Silvester foods include special seafoods, soups, pork, raclette or fondue and a particular kind of baked item -- a Berliner -- that might be called a "jelly doughnut" in English.

Seafood
Seafood for dinner on New Year's Eve has been a long-standing tradition. Particularly popular is the New Year Eve Carp (Silvesterkarpfen). The carp can be baked, pan-fried, grilled, or smoked. Other seafood, such as trout, salmon, crab, sturgeon, eel, lobster, crayfish, and oysters, are also favorites.

Good Luck Pig 
The pig has long been a symbol for good luck and well-being. Because of this, many people believe that eating a meal with pork will bring luck in the coming new year. Such meals include Schnitzel, Bratwurst, any kind of wurst made with pork, pork roast, Sauerkraut with Kassler Rippchen, etc. For those who prefer not to eat pork on New Year's Eve, sweet alternatives, such as Marzipan-Pigs (Marzipanschweine) or pig-shaped chocolates, are believed to bring the same benefits. ;)

Soup
One of the most popular New Year's Eve foods in many parts of Germany is a bowl of soup: lentil soup (Linsensuppe), pea soup (Erbsensuppe), bean soup (Bohnensuppe), or carrot soup (Möhrensuppe). According to a long-standing tradition, these soups are supposed to bring blessings and wealth for the new year. Also, a fully-eaten bowl of lentil soup is supposed to guarantee plenty of small change in one's pocket. 

Salt & Bread 
An old tradition in Sachsen (Saxony), specifically in the Ore Mountains, is to place some salt and bread under a tablecloth and keep it overnight into New Year's Day. This is believed to prevent any times of hunger in the coming year. 

Breads & Cakes 
There are many baked goods that are popular for New Year's Eve. Formed breads and cakes, such as New Year's pretzels, braids, and wreaths, are popular during this time. Pretzels and wreaths are thought to represent togetherness, limitlessness, luck, and blessings. 

Fondue
Fondue is a communal dish shared by all guests. One dips bite-sized food into a hot sauce or liquid. In some cases, the food is cooked in the hot liquid. In others, the hot sauce simply coats the food. There are 5 kinds of fondue: 

Cheese Fondue - A variety of cheeses are melted with spices and wine. Guests dip bread cubes into the melted cheese mix. 
Meat Fondue - This is the most popular kind of fondue in Germany. Small cubes of raw meat are placed onto long fondue forks and dunked into hot oil until cooked. The cooked meat is dipped into various spicy sauces before eating.  
Chinese Fondue - Similar to the meat fondue, except instead of cooking the meat cubes in oil, they are cooked in broth. Spicy sauces are used for dipping the cooked meat.  
Vegetable Fondue  - Guests place bite sized vegetables onto their elongated fondue fork. The vegetables are dipped into a batter, then placed in the fondue pot, where they are fried in hot oil.  
Chocolate Fondue  - A dessert fondue. Guests dunk fruits into melted chocolate. 

Raclette - Similar to a cheese fondue in that it involves melting cheese. Here, an electric Raclette grill is used to melt individual portions of cheese. The portions are then served to guests, who add their own seasoning, vegetables (such as boiled potatoes, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes), and bread. 

Each family has its own Silvester traditions and traditional foods can vary between regions.
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How (and where) are you spending New Year's? :)

When the old year ends and a new one dawns, Germany celebrates. Parties and fireworks are the norm, although some people choose to spend Silvester quietly at home watching "Dinner for One" on TV. 

"Silvester" - How the day got its name: There was a Saint Sylvester, der heilige Silvester. He was pope (Papst) from 314 until he died in Rome on December 31, 335. Legend has it that he cured Roman emperor Constantine I of leprosy (after converting him to Christianity, of course), for which the grateful emperor supposedly gave the Pope the so-called Donation of Constantine, granting him extensive rights to land and power. (This gift now seems to be a forgery going back to the 8th century.) St. Sylvester's relics were moved to the Church of San Silvestro in Capite, Italy in 762. St. Sylvester's feast day, December 31, is now called Silvester in Germany.

Neujahrsbräuche - New Year’s Customs

Feuerwerk
Fireworks on New Year's Eve (Silvester) are not unique to German-speaking Europe. People all over the world use fireworks (private or government-sponsored) to welcome in the New Year and drive out evil spirits with loud noises and sparkling, flashing pyrotechnics

Dinner for One
“The same procedure as every year.” This English line has become a familiar catchphrase in Germany. It’s part of an annual New Years' custom that began in 1963 when German TV first broadcast a 14-minute British stage sketch entitled "Dinner for One” aka "Der 90. Geburtstag". This short British sketch has become a German New Year's tradition. Yet, although it is a famous cult classic in Germany and several other European countries, it's virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, including in Britain, its birthplace.

Bleigießen
“Lead pouring” is an old practice using molten lead like tea leaves. A small amount of lead is melted in a tablespoon by holding it over a flame, then poured into a bowl of water. The resulting pattern is interpreted to predict the coming year. For instance, if the lead forms a ball, that means luck will roll your way, a cross signifies death, and so on.

Feuerzangenbowle
In addition to champagne or Sekt (German sparkling wine), wine, or beer, Feuerzangenbowle ("flaming fire tongs punch") still is a relatively popular German New Year's drink. The only drawback for this tasty punch is that it is more complicated to prepare than a normal bottled or canned beverage. Part of the popularity of Feuerzangenbowle is based on a classic novel of the same name by Heinrich Spoerl (1887-1955) and the 1944 film version starring the popular German actor Heinz Rühmann. The hot punch drink's main ingredients are Rotwein, Rum, Orangen, Zitronen, Zimt und Gewürznelken (red wine, rum, oranges, lemons, cinnamon and cloves).

Neujahrskarte
Some Germans prefer to send a New Year's card rather than a Christmas card. They wish their friends and family "Ein gutes und gesegnetes neues Jahr!" ("a good and blessed New Year") or simply "Frohes Neues Jahr!" (Happy New Year!). Some use the New Year's card to tell family and friends about events in their life during the past year.