It’s said that in Rome, on New Year’s Eve, there is a tradition of literally throwing old things right out the window, to start the New Year free from the past.

I guess the moral of that is, if you are fortunate enough to be in Rome, Italy some New Year’s Eve, you best keep an eye skyward. Somebody might be throwing out a heavy piece of furniture just as you are passing by. That’s their tradition.

A pastor named Patricia Farris tells about being in Mexico one year with her husband on New Year’s Eve. They found themselves in the middle of something they didn’t understand at the time, but they discovered it’s similar to the tradition in Rome.

It was late in the evening, not yet midnight, and the central square was full of people, lights, music, kids, old people, families . . . Stands were…