When the clock strikes midnight on December 31 of each year, it is common practice to wish your friends and loved ones happiness and well-being in the upcoming New Year. Hopes are high for the new year to come, and people often want to celebrate by wishing each other a "Happy New Year!"http://wilstar.com/holidays/newyear.htm

"Happy New Year" wishes can also be extended via handwritten cards, in letters or in e-mail greetings. The right "Happy New Year" wish can set the tone for the entire year to come. Wishes can be personal, addressing specific hopes for success in a new job or with a new baby or more general, expressing hopes that all endeavors will be successful in the coming year. For some popular New Year blessings and "Happy New Year" wishes, check out the links on this page.http://wilstar.com/holidays/newyear.htm

Similar to New Year's resolutions, New Year's wishes are a way to express your hopes for the upcoming year. These can be your own hopes or hopes you have for other people. Where resolutions are typically specific personal goals, New Year's wishes commonly have a more general scope. Wishes can involve such things as financial well-being, success in all endeavors, no health complications and so on. New Year's wishes are essentially a method of voicing one's desires for the upcoming year.http://www.cojoweb.com/new-years-eve-hist.html

If you have friends or loved ones living elsewhere and you want to be able to wish them a "Happy New Year," check out this list for help:

• Africa—Gelukkige nuwe jaar
• Breton—Bloavezh Mat
• Chinese—Xin Nian Kuai Le
• French—Bonne Annee
• Gaelic—Bliadhna mhath ur
• German—Prosit Neujahr
• Greek—Kenourios Chronos
• Hebrew—L'Shannah Tovah
• Iraqi—Sanah Jadidah
• Korean—Saehae Bock Mani ba deu sei yo!
• Norwegian—Godt Nyttar
• Russian—S Novim Godom
• Spanish—Feliz Ano Nuevo
• Welsh—Blwyddyn Newydd DdaThe Holiday Spot: New Year Wishes Around the World

• "In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, never in want."—Irish ToastAbout.com: New Year Wishes

• "For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning."—T.S. EliotAbout.com: New Year Wishes

• "Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man."—Benjamin FranklinAbout.com: New Year Wishes