Rio de Janeiro: 29 °C, cloudy, hot and stuffy.
New Year’s Eve is a significant event in the city, and Copacabana is the centre of all the activity. While other beaches and neighbourhoods also host public gatherings with fireworks displays, Copacabana is the main attraction for welcoming in the New Year.
Copacabana accommodates up to two million people on New Year’s Eve, with organised shows from temporary stages built on the beach to all the beachfront hotels, bars and restaurants charging a fortune for people to watch the fireworks display that is realised in front of the beach from floating barges 100 meters from the shore.
Traditionally, people wear white on New Year’s Eve, symbolising peace and luck. However, they can also wear other colours, such as red for passion and love or yellow for friendship. The main street access to Copacabana is closed at midnight on the 30th and reopens at 6 a.m. on the 1st.
The preparations in Copacabana begin before Christmas, and you can especially see it when you see telecommunication companies parking enormous makeshift aerial trailers to handle the overwhelming demand on their systems as more than two million people start calling their friends and family simultaneously.
I have celebrated many New Year’s Eve parties in Copacabana, some more memorable than others, but all good. However, I have chosen to commemorate alone for the last two years. The first time was when I lived in Rocha, the North zone of Rio. I had been invited to various parties but didn’t feel like going, so I was in bed and asleep before midnight.
Last year, I was already living in Copacabana, and I was invited to some parties again, but I decided to stay alone. I left my apartment and went down to the street 20 minutes before midnight, taking a bottle of champagne with me to watch the fireworks and see in the New Year.
It was raining a little, so I only stayed for half an hour. I didn’t walk along the beachfront to see the shows because it was too crowded and a little dangerous. When I got home, I opened a bottle of red wine and drank a glass or two to welcome the New Year.
This year, for the third consecutive year, I again spent New Year’s Eve quietly alone, without even going downstairs to the street, this time to see the people and the fireworks. As I had a partial view of the beach from my living room window, I could see, or at least get an impression of what I had seen many times before.
This time, I stayed up until midnight, opened a bottle of Prosecco, watched the fireworks, sent messages to friends and pupils, and tried to call my daughters. It wasn’t easy to reach Jessica, but I eventually did. Yasmin was easier to reach.
I felt somewhat melancholic over the past two years, pondering the coming year despite it being good years. This year is expected to bring significant changes. I have realised that every time I spent a quiet New Year’s Eve alone, the following year turned out to be very good or even exceptional.
My concern, as always, is money. In Brazil, making real money is almost impossible unless you’re a magician or a politician. I will be 57 this new year with no firm retirement plans. I need something to fall back on as I get older and can’t teach forever.
As an English teacher, I am very good and well-known in my field, but I’m a dinosaur, part of a dying breed that will soon become extinct. My studies in the last year have been to prepare myself for other career possibilities so that I’m not a burden to anyone in my old age.
So, I partially saw the fireworks display from my living room window while listening to “Talk Talk” or “Sigur Rós,” both great bands that play with their souls, drinking a bottle of sparkling wine and then a Malbec. I went to bed at 4 a.m.
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!
Thank you.
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Richard
