Scotland is the home of Hogmanay, but it’s not just Scots who have some odd New Year traditions.

In Romania, some boys and men welcome in the bells dressed in heavy bear costumes - often it's the real thing - to perform a ritualistic New Year dance.

It’s a throwback to centuries ago when the Roma visited villages with real bears on leashes to ‘dance’ and chase away evil spirits.

Farmers there also attempt a bizarre ritual of trying to hear their animals talk – if successful it brings good luck which, presumably, there isn’t much of.

While in Siberia’s massive frozen Lake Baikal, you have to wait until early February for New Year and Sagaalgan – which means ‘white’ and ‘month’.

Festivities, often involving vodka, span several weeks to give families time to travel from one yurt to the next to exchange gifts, traditionally white in colour.

Like Hogmanay here, preparations include cleaning and laying out treats – in their case, mutton brisket.

Each member of the family takes a piece, throws it on the fire and declares: “The old year has gone, a new one has come, I am sacrificing mutton brisket. May death and suffering disappear, may happiness and well-being be with us.”

It might not work with potted hough, but worth a try.

While Scots toast the bells with a large dram, the Spanish and the Dutch mark the moment by stuffing twelve grapes in their mouths, representing each chime of the clock.

If you’re in the Netherlands and wearing red undies at the time, tradition says you’re luck is definitely in for 2024.

Some take part in Carbidschieten, which involves popping a piece of calcium carbide and water into a metal milk urn, holding a flame to it, and enjoying the resulting explosion as the lid blows off and heads straight for Auntie Nan.

Equally death defying is the Italian tradition of chucking old belongings – everything from furniture and fridges to toasters - out of the window.

The tradition symbolises a fresh start, and is one way to avoid a post-festive trip to the council tip.

Safer, perhaps, is the German approach, where the old British comedy sketch, Dinner for One, in which a butler gets increasingly sloshed during a dinner for his mistress, is an obligatory part of the New Year celebrations.  A bit like repeats of Still Game.

In Ireland, bad spirits are chased from the house by first baking a delicious Christmas bread loaf, then bashing it to bits against the doors and walls. 

While in Greece, an onion hanging outside the door at New Year spells fertility and rebirth. Some parents take the opportunity to wake their children by bumping an onion on their head – it’s meant to mark a new start.

In Turkey, the midnight bells is the moment to head outside and sprinkle salt on the doorstep for good luck, or, if you're in Denmark, smash a plate on your neighbour's.

And, if New Year brings melancholy and you prefer sobbing into your beer, all roads lead to Talca, central Chile. There, locals see in the bells at the local graveyard with their dead relatives.

At least the New Year bottle won’t run out quite so fast…