Which Greek New Year's Eve tradition involves breaking a pomegranate for good luck?

The Greek New Year's Eve tradition involving breaking a pomegranate for good luck is pomegranate smashing.

In this custom, a pomegranate is broken at the entrance of a home, often after the family returns from a New Year’s church service. The many seeds are treated as signs of abundance, prosperity, and good fortune for the household in the coming year.

Pomegranates have deep symbolic associations in Greek culture and mythology. Ancient Greek stories connected the fruit with Persephone and the underworld, while later customs gave it positive meanings related to fertility, life, and renewal. The New Year practice combines these older associations with a household blessing.

Details vary by region and family. Some people count or interpret the scattered seeds, while others simply regard a large number of seeds as especially auspicious. This is not the same as the vasilopita tradition, in which a hidden coin is baked into a New Year cake.