New Year's Eve In Norway New Year's Eve ("Nyttårsaften") is the second biggest celebration of the year, after Christmas Eve. While Christmas Eve is a family celebration, New Year's Eve is an opportunity to celebrate with friends. Traditionally, there is first a feast, commonly consisting of stuffed, roast turkey with potatoes, sprouts, gravy and Waldorf salad. The accompanying beverage is traditionally beer (commonly either Christmas beer or lager beer). Dessert will often be vanilla pudding or rice cream, and there will be cakes and coffee later in the evening - commonly accompanied by a glass of cognac. Then, at close to 12 am
Christmas Eve is sometimes referred to as "Misa de Gallo", or "Missa do Galo" in Portuguese ("Rooster's Mass"). In the Philippines, the custom has expanded into the nine-day "Simbang Gabi", when Filipinos attend dawn Masses (traditionally beginning around 04:00 to 05:00 PST) from 16 December, continuing daily until Christmas Eve. In 2009 Vatican officials scheduled the Midnight Mass to start at 10 pm so that the 82-year-old Pope Benedict XVI would not have too late a night. Whilst it does not include any kind of Mass, the Church of Scotland has a service beginning just before midnight, in which carols are sung.