Beginning ’10
As 2009 heads for exit, people find variety of ways to welcome the new year
Lina Capogreco stuffed meat into the grinder yesterday, making sausage for an Italian feast of tripe, rock fish, and marinated pork shoulders. Tonight, her cozy East Boston house overlooking the harbor will be filled with family and friends, as she and her husband, Vincenzo, host 25 guests. They will sip homemade wine, pop balloons, and serve up traditions from Calabria.
When midnight comes, they will eat lentil soup and the sausages as symbols of prosperity for the new year.
“It’s a tradition here,’’ said Vincenzo Capogreco, as he sat roasting chestnuts at the fireplace in his home. “When we were younger, my mother did this for us. And we do it for our children.’’
Like the Capogrecos, many in Boston may choose to avoid the cold and crowds of Boston’s famed downtown New Year’s Eve tonight, opting instead to keep the revelry at home or to welcome 2010 at church services, neighborhood dances, or other lesser-known celebrations.
The Rev. William E. Dickerson II said he will ‘bring it’ during his church’s traditional Watch Night services in Dorchester by offering a lively message about a “divine turnaround’’ for 2010.
“We will bring out the old year and ring in the new,’’ said Dickerson, who is pastor of Greater Love Tabernacle in Dorchester. “We will thank the Lord for allowing us to see a brand new year.’’
The free service will begin at 10 p.m. and will feature dancers, horns, and whistles. At 12:30, there will be a Christian talent show that includes poetry and singing.
Morning Star Baptist Church in Mattapan is also expected to fill its pews beginning at 9 p.m. with a “healthy and holy’’ alternative to typical New Year’s Eve partying, said Ego Ezedi, a minister at the church.
“Everybody’s trying to be in someone’s club when the clock strikes 12,’’ Ezedi said. “But what we can do is we can have an exciting and energetic service to bring in the new year. And once we bring in the new year, we can have a Holy Ghost party.’’
At a New Year’s Eve Mass tonight, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley will call for “deeper respect for the precious gift of human life and for an end to abortion and violence in the world,’’ he said in a statement. “There is no better way to celebrate New Year’s Eve than in the presence of our Lord, giving thanks to Him for His many gifts.’’
The service begins at 10:30 p.m. O’Malley will say Mass at 11:45 p.m.
Thousands are expected to pack downtown Boston for the city’s annual First Night activities, which will feature more than 1,000 artists in 200 exhibitions and performances in 35 locations across the city. It’s the nation’s largest New Year’s Eve event, running from 1 p.m. to midnight.
But there are more modest alternatives. At the Roxbury YMCA, doors will open at 5:30 a.m. and stay open till midnight so young children and their parents can mix, mingle, and have a day to play around. The pools will close at midnight, and the gym will be transformed to a teen hip-hop dance party and a children’s wonderland.
“You can come in with your family and spend all day doing arts and crafts,’’ said May Vaughn-Ebanks, the new executive director. Just before midnight, everyone will gather inside the gym and count down the seconds to 2010, as a sequined ball drops to the floor.
“After that,’’ said Vaughn-Ebanks, “we will wish everyone a happy New Year.’’
In Randolph, a Hyde Park performance troupe, Mixed Emotions, from Riverside Theatre Works, will sing at La Scala at 8 p.m. for free, said Julie Beckham, the family theater’s managing director. “Anyone can come,’’ Beckham said. “It’s an Italian neighborhoody-feel where you get to toast in the new year.’’
