Guten Rutsch!

[schneefink]

I haven't yet found an equivalent to the German New Year's greeting "Guten Rutsch!" (literally: slide well, meaning: have a good transition into the new year, start the new year well) in any language. At home it's used from approximately the 28th December until the 31st whenever and wherever you meet someone (more accurately at the last time you think you see someone before January 1st), but as far as I know the English "Happy New Year" and the Russian "С новым годом" are only used on January 1st. (?)

I've been busy the last few days, but the good kind of busy (LB is here! Sight-seeing, ice-skating on Red Square…) Tomorrow I will sleep, then I will catch up, and then… probably sleep some more. And start on my list of New Year's Resolutions.

Guten Rutsch!

Comments

[onyxlynx]

Heh. I have taken to using "Happy New Year" on everyone at least the first time I see them that year from about December 30 through the end of January; when I lived on the East Coast, that got a special extension in the years I went to Boskone (usually third weekend of February) because a lot of West Coast people showed up for that.

[schneefink]

In that case, Happy New Year! :)
Normally I don't wish people anything later than January 7th or so, except sometimes (like when there are left over cookies... ^^)

[jae]

Gleichfalls! :)

-J

[schneefink]

Ein gutes neues Jahr :)
Prost!

[naye]

Oh, that's a wonderful expression! :D There's the word "rutscha" in Swedish, too, so maybe I can try using it on people here?

In Japanese, the proper way of doing greetings is to go "yoi o-toshi wo" before New Year's Day (it means "to a good new year"), and then on/after New Year's people say "akemashite omedetou gozaimasu" when they meet for the first time.

Interesting customs! (Actually, in Sweden people have taken to saying "good ending" and "good continuation" between Christmas and New Year's. Don't know how recent that is...)

[schneefink]

Hehe, I'm not sure it would make any sense to people not familiar with the expression!

Interesting! Is New Year a big holiday in Japan? (And how much do they celebrate Christmas?)

Happy New Year!

[naye]

New Year's in Japan, like in China, is the most important holiday of the year. It's very symbolic - out with the old, in with the new - and it's also a time that family spends together. You send cards and give gifts, and there's a hundred different foods and decorations and special traditions associated with it.

Christmas is like a weird sort of Valentine's Day, which has become a day that lovers spend together, and people eat strawberry cake ("Christmas Cake") and fried chicken. Yep.

[schneefink]

Strawberry cake and fried chicken? xD I don't even want to know how that tastes together.

The similarities/differences in different cultures are fascinating!

[saphirablue]

I wish you a "Guten Rutsch" too! :) I hope you'll have a great 2012! :)

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

Danke, und auch! :)

[serrende.livejournal.com]

In Swedish we say "Gott slut!", "Good Ending", but that's usually done for the last few days before New Year's Eve. Like, when I said goodbye to my coworkers yesterday for the weekend we said "Gott slut och gott nytt år" to each other. So not quite the same thing. "Guten Rutsch" is a great expression!

(There's also "God fortsättning", "Good continuation" used on Christmas Day, the day after Christmas and perhaps a few days after that. Traditionally Christmas was seen to last until Jan 13 here, but I don't think most people think of it that way these days.)

Guten Rutsch!

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

Long Christmas holidays, nice! ^^

Gott slut!

[serrende.livejournal.com]

Not really, we still have to work for most of those days (especially this year) unless we use vacation days. But many do. :D

Tack und danke! Do Germans have a tradition of kids' parties when you strip the Christmas tree, too?

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

Not as far as I know (but what do I know about the Germans! :P)
Here kids usually start picking the chocolate from the tree on Christmas Eve, and the tree keeps standing until January 6th (traditionally, or today often shorter.)

[serrende.livejournal.com]

Aah, I'm so sorry, I got you mixed up with a German on my f-list! Verzeihen!

[amnisias.livejournal.com]

Guten Rutsch in's neue Jahr!

I tend to opt for 'good start into the new year' because that seems to be the closest to you can get to the concept, but afaik that's not actually an English expression..

[schneefink.livejournal.com]

It's close, but not as conveniently short/pretty ;-)
Danke und auch!