Colombia It is a multicultural country that hosts different traditions on the part of its inhabitants and in which many fairs and festivals are celebrated.

This is why in the country there are between 16 to 18 annual holidays. Some of the most popular are: Christmas and New Years, the Three Kings Day, Palm Sunday, Good Thursday and Friday, Labor Day, Independence Day, the Battle of Boyacá, of the race and the independence of Cartagena, among others.

We could say that there are basically two types of parties: religious holidays and national holidays: the former due to the Catholic and Christian tradition widely spread throughout the national territory, some of which mix the traditions of the indigenous peoples, who make up a good number of the Colombian population. On the other hand, the national holidays are commemorated by historical events that marked the course of the nation and that have had influence until today. There are also others that are celebrated practically all over the world, such as International Labor Day, New Year and Christmas.

Today we will talk about one of the most important and representative festivals of Colombian traditions and for this we will reveal the experience of Antoine Delacarte in Cartagena celebrating the new year. He was in the heroic city in the month of December and can attest to how people have a great time there.

Every end of the year the stone playpen is dressed in more colors than usual to give rise to one of the most popular celebrations at the end of the year: it is the New Year's party, which leaves the dying year behind with nostalgia and joyfully welcomes the nascent, full of illusions and goals to be achieved.

Antoine is a young Frenchman, a lawyer by profession there, but who for different reasons ended up in Colombia with the intention of starting a new business here, as well as having a sentimental reason to do so, since his girlfriend is Colombian. He was in Cartagena between December of last year and January of this year to experience this great festival firsthand. It was only a couple of days that he was there, but they were enough to catch the joy of the Colombian Caribbean and live unforgettable moments that he had not experienced in other New Year celebrations in his life. That is to say, he traveled to Cartagena to live the last day of the year 2018, and celebrated the first day of the year 2019 in turn.

According to Antoine himself, the new year celebration in Cartagena it is unique; the festive atmosphere, the sea breeze, the cool and pleasant weather at midnight and the joy of the people is a mixture of sensations that make people feel in a place like no other.

He could not hide his emotion when the clock counted down to say goodbye to the old year and welcome him to one full of dreams and new projects; when all the people with one voice said "happy New Year", while they hugged each other and toasted with the drink they had at hand. Colorful explosions in the sky that testified to the joy experienced at that moment, that made us forget some bitter drinks of the year just ended and that in some of those present was manifested with tears of nostalgia, hope or simply the product of the alcohol ingested, which in some it was already too much.

This has undoubtedly been an unforgettable experience for him that he had not lived before. A moment to leave behind the difficult moments experienced during the year, and to embrace the arrival of the new year with faith. He went ahead with the hope of finding something to do in Colombia, of giving his life a new direction, and he succeeded. Now she is developing an organic food sales project with some friends and is on the right track. He has studied and learned Spanish particularly quickly. It has adapted to the changes that living in another country demands, especially when the cultures are so different, as in the case of the French and the Colombian.

Antoine has also visited other places of the national geography, and he hopes that the next New Year will surprise him in another beautiful place in our country, to continue accumulating experiences that make him feel more and more Colombian. He is happy to have lived his first new year in Colombia, and to have started a new life. As the popular saying goes: "New year, new life." Of this he has been a faithful witness.

Antoine shares us a little about your experience in Colombia and the New Year's parties that he lived in Cartagena. He also invites all those people who want to come to Colombia to study Spanish and get to know the culture of the country, and by the way go to know this beautiful city.

If you want to know Colombia, know about the interesting multiracial mix that gave rise to the country that we know today, interact with its inhabitants and be a participant in one of the many fairs and festivals held in Colombia, study and learn Spanish in Nueva Lengua. It will be a wonderful opportunity to learn one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in the world today and learn more about the people who speak it. Remember that learning a nueva lengua it is the door to know new cultures.