World's wackiest New Year's Eve events and traditions Eat up - in Spain it's traditional to eat 12 grapes as the clock strikes midnight, making a wish with each. And no, it doesn't exactly count if your grapes are in the form of champers! GOT your red undies on? Grapes and noodles ready? Take a quick trip around the world's wackiest ways to ring in the new year and you might just be inspired to travel somewhere new next December 31 or to spice up your boring old NYE with some quirky traditions borrowed from another country. Ready? Let the countdown begin. Bikes in Times Square will generate energy to power the New Year's Eve Ball. On your bike to have a ball This year, New Yorkers and tourists will generate power by pedalling to help illuminate the famed ball that will descend into Times Square on New Year's Eve. Six Citibikes from the city's bike share program have been installed and connected to 12-volt deep cycle batteries. Each bike will generate an average of 75 watts an hour. It takes 50,000 watts to power the ball, which is lit by 30,000 LEDs. Lady Gaga starts the ball drop in Times Square, New York, in 2011. This year, the ball drop will be powered by bikes. Lucky undies In many cultures, the colour you wear - especially your underwear - on New Year's Eve determines your luck in the new year. Red is considered lucky while in some places, while yellow is all about prosperity. In the Philippines, polkadots are preferred, since the dots symbolise coins and wealth. Red is the pick of the panties for New Year's Eve celebrations in many cultures. Who nose? In Spain's Catalonia region, the Man of the Noses comes out to parade through the streets on December 31. According to folklore, he has 365 noses - a nose for every day of the year - but only ventures out on December 31, with his one last nose of the year. He gives away lollies and leads a "Run of the Noses" through town. All fired up Get out your viking kit and take to the streets - in Scotland, the Hogmanay celebration involves a torchlight procession and fantastic viking costumes. Men dressed as Vikings take part in the torchlight procession as it makes its way through Edinburgh. Totally soba New Year's Eve In Japan, the beginning of the new year is marked with bowl of toshikoshi soba, or "year-crossing" noodles. The dish is traditionally eaten with family on New Year's Eve - and to ensure good luck for the year ahead, all the noodles in your bowl must be polished off before midnight. Totally thrown These are not the kind of traditions we'd suggest trying at home, but in several cultures, throwing things is the best way to end the old year and start the new year. In Denmark, the custom is to smash plates at the doors of friends and relatives. And in South Africa, throwing old appliances like microwaves out the window is the practice. The Danish New Year's Eve traditions involve chucking plates at people's doorways. Im-poss-ible Another one for the don't try this at home category. In Brasstown, North Carolina, the annual New Year's Eve Possum Drop has received the green light to go ahead, despite an attempt by animal rights activists to put a stop to the tradition. A possum is captured, hoisted and lowered into a cage at midnight. A lawyer for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals argued in court that the lights, noise and crowd of people can wreck a possum's nerves and health, but a judge ruled last week that the show could go on. Punch and duty Though it actually happens on Christmas Day, the traditional practice of staging a boxing match to settle old conflicts between neighbours or community members is all about achieving peace and starting the new year afresh. The Quechuan tradition is practised in and around Cuzco in Peru. Cross dressing and scarecrows In Ecuador, the New Year's Eve custom is to make effigies or scarecrows and burn them at midnight, as a symbol of destroying any bad luck from the previous year. And then the teenage boys of the household head out on the town dressed up as "widows of the old year" to dance for money in the streets. Deadly serious celebration In Talca, Chile, the thing to do is to gather in a graveyard, to be close to your dead loved ones. The relatively recent "tradition" - which has been voted the weirdest New Year's custom in a poll by Badoo - started in 1995, when a local family reportedly jumped the cemetery fence to spend New Year's at their father's grave. Now it's a central part of official celebrations in the town.