![Burning the old year is one of the Cuban traditions of celebrating New Year's Eve. (JC Fernandez)](https://translatingcuba.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Quemar-ano-Juan-Carlos-Fernandez14ymedio_CYMIMA20160101_0014_16-1.jpg)
14ymedio, Juan Carlos Fernandez, Pinar del Rio, 1 January 2016 — A family in the city of Pinar del Rio burns an effigy made of old clothes at midnight on December 31 in a traditional ceremony that seeks to eliminate bad luck and enter the new year with greater fortune, health and economic development.