Greetings, Dear Steemians
This is my participation in @anomadsoul's contest (Details here: https://steemit.com/steempress/@anomadsoul/contestmy2018welcomingthenewyear-100steeminprizes-mo805y48z7 ). Thanks to @blocktrades for providing the support for this contest.

from my musing post:

In Venezuela we used to do quite a few things responding to some superstitious beliefs. Most of those practices involved spending money on certain things so, under the current crisis, most likely people will not be doing most of that this New Year’s Eve.

There was the traditional eating of 12 grapes in the last minute of the year. One grape for every month to come, invoking health and prosperity during the whole year. Grapes are so expensive now that as of yesterday, I had not seen a single vendor selling them.

There was also the tradition of wearing yellow underwear. This year very few people will be able to afford underwear at all. Yellow underwear is supposed to guarantee abundance during the year to come.

There was also the traditional crossing of the street and walking some blocks with a suitcase to invite traveling. I think that without intending to do that to that extent, Venezuelans provoked the massive migration wave that is now invading the whole continent and even parts of Europe.

We also had the tradition of having cash, lentils or rice in our pockets so that we will spend the whole new year with money. With cash being hard to get these days, that will be another tradition going down the drain.

In the following videos, shot as candidly as we could, we welcome you into our lives and allow you to see how we actually spent the final hours of 2018. This year, it was my wife and step-daughter, my mother-in-law, my mother and I. My son, José is in Lima, Peru, and my two daughters spend the holidays with their mother and aunt in Puerto Ordaz, State of Bolivar.

Getting the food ready.

Agressive extra guest.

Dancing a little bit

My apologies for the sideways video. I don't know how to straighten it up.

Checking the street once more

Just chatting

1 Minute to the hour

This is it

There were mixed feelings, but sadness prevailed due to the memory of some relatives gone, especially my niece Edith Nakary (about whom I wrote some posts), who was killed in a military academy 5 months ago (no investigation was ever carried out). We cried for our friends and relatives who are trying to rebuild their lives in different countries and desperately trying to help those left behind.

Thanks for your visit. We hope you liked our participation. Your comments are valuable to us.