Which Greek New Year's custom involves smashing a pomegranate for good fortune?

Pomegranate smashing is a Greek New Year's custom associated with good fortune and abundance.

In the tradition, a pomegranate is smashed at or near the entrance of a home around New Year's Day. The scattered seeds are interpreted as signs of prosperity, fertility, health, and abundance. The practice is especially associated with welcoming the new year into the household.

The pomegranate has a long symbolic history in Greek culture and mythology. In the myth of Persephone, eating pomegranate seeds links her to the underworld, while in broader Mediterranean traditions the fruit has often represented fertility and renewal. Those older associations help explain its place in a seasonal ritual.

The custom is not the same as Greece's vasilopita tradition, in which a coin is hidden in a New Year's cake. Both practices concern luck, but the pomegranate ritual uses the fruit's seeds and the cake ritual uses a concealed coin.