Since 2006 a group of people celebrate an important event around the New Year. It's called Good Riddance Day. Participants write down unpleasant, painful, or embarrassing memories from the past year and throw them into an industrial-strength shredder. Or if you prefer, you can also take a sledge hammer and smash your good riddance item, like a cell phone, for instance. The U.S. event is based after a Latin American tradition in which New Year's revelers stuffed dolls with objects representing bad memories before setting them on fire.
One of the Good Riddance Day organizers said, "It really is this need we have, even when the world is crazy, to say, 'You know what? I'm gonna let go of the things that have been dragging me down and going to look forward with a sense of hope and the possibility of change. Either for myself personally or the world.' So this is a chance to detox in a big way."
