"
In the big towns, however, many of the _petite bourgeoisie_ do not
"bring in the New Year" at home, and the restaurants and cafes are
crowded till twelve o'clock, when healths are drunk, and there is
cheering and singing, which are continued in the streets when the
people are going home; and there is a great deal of noise for a long
time after all the cafes are closed.
It used to be the fashion to fire guns at midnight on New Year's Eve,
but that is not common now except in one part of Belgium, called
Limburg, where any girl who has a lover expects him to fire off shots
in front of her window. The more shots he fires the more she thinks he
loves her, and to reward him she ought to hide a bottle of gin in some
corner outside the house, from which he can drink her health.
Mischievous young men, however, sometimes find the bottle, and drink
the gin before the lover comes, and so the girl often waits till she
hears the shots, and then lowers the bottle by a string from the
window. This funny custom, like many others, is now going out of
fashion.
On New Year's Day all Belgians call on their friends to wish them "A
Happy New Year," when they are offered wine, sweetmeats, and things of
that sort.
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