New Years Celebrations
New Year's celebrations typically involve getting together with family and friends, watching football, eating good food, and just celebrating the advent of the New Year.
History of New Year's Celebrations
While many people celebrate the New Year with New Year's Eve parties and fun get-togethers, they may not know the history of this special time of the year. These celebrations actually date back to ancient Babylon around 2000 BC. This historic celebration didn't occur on January 1st however. Instead, the Babylonian New Year was centered around the first new moon that appeared after the Vernal Equinox, which was the first day of spring. This particular celebration lasted for eleven days and focused on the season of rebirth with the blossoming of new trees and flowers and the planting of new crops.
The tradition of celebrating the new year in the spring continued until 153 BC when the Roman senate adopted January 1 as the first day of the new year. However, various rulers weren't content to abide by this rule, and changes to the calendar continued to occur until Julius Caesar took control and created in 46 BC what is known as the Julian Calendar, which again placed the new year beginning on January 1.
Religion and New Year's Celebrations
Initially, the Catholic Church frowned on New Year's parties and celebrations, believing that such festivities were actually paganism. Eventually however, Christianity saw a broader incorporation of celebrations and commemorations regarding the new year, with many referring to this day as the Feast of Christ's Circumcision. History indicates, however, that the actual day of January 1 has only been treated as a holiday in the West for the past 400 or so years.
Celebration Trivia
Much of the origins of the traditions associated with the celebration of the new year are virtually unknown by many who celebrate this well-known holiday. Interesting trivia includes the following:
- The Tournament of Roses parade originated in 1886 with the advent of the Valley Hunt Club's celebration of the orange crop ripening.
- The use of a baby as a symbol of a new year originated around 600 BC in Greece when Greeks commemorated Dionysus, the god of wine, by displaying a baby as a reminder of rebirth and fertility.
- People commonly celebrate the new year with friends and family because tradition indicated that people could influence the luck they would experience in the coming year by what they ate or did on that first day.
- Many Americans make a point of eating black-eyed peas, cabbage, and hog jowls or ham on New Year's Day for luck because all of these foods are symbols of prosperity.
- People in many major cities all over the world celebrate New Year's on January 1.
- Many Christians believe that the circumcision of Christ occurred on January 1.
Other Cultures
There are some cultures, however, which do not celebrate the New Year on January 1. For example, the Chinese base their calendar on the new moon of the first lunar month. This typically occurs about four to eight weeks before spring begins on March 21. Each new year is generally associated with an animal, which represents one of the twelve Earthly Branches. This is why you may hear a new Chinese year called the "Year of the Tiger" or the "Year of the Snake." Other cultures which do not use January 1 for their New Year's celebrations include the following:
- Vietnamese - They typically celebrate the same first day of the year as the Chinese.
- Tibetans - Their first day of the year occurs sometime from January through March.
- India - Their new year is celebrated sometime in March or April.
While Americans and other locations around the world, such as England and Australia, typically celebrate the new year with fireworks and parties, other countries honor this day through meditation and fasting, preferring to spend their time in self-reflection. Some countries actually restrict their citizens' activities on the first day of the new year by closing businesses and public areas around their cities.
No matter how you celebrate this special day, spend some time reflecting on the year that has just ended and consider what you want to accomplish in the year to come.
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