New Year's Eve & Day
It's hard to imagine holding New Year's in the middle of March, but that's exactly when it used to occur. It's also hard to image a year without January and February, but back when people first began to view the beginning of a new year as a celebration, these two months did not exist.
The celebration of New Year's (one of the oldest holidays around) is said to have first occurred in Mesopotamia circa 2000 B.C. The event occurred roughly in conjunction with the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring), usually around March 15th. During these times, the first visible crescent moon after the Vernal Equinox signaled the start of a new year (not the date January 1st on a calendar) and, for the Babylonian's, the celebration lasted eleven days. Beginning the year in the spring made sense to people back then since that's the time of year when thing began to restart and come alive again. In the Spring, plants are reborn and crops begin to grow out of the dead of winter. Nature starts over at this time so why shouldn't the year as well? Made sense to the Mesopotamians, but not all ancient civilizations saw things the same way.
Some celebrated the New Year with the start of the Fall Equinox (Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians) while others preferred the Winter Solstice (Greeks). In later times, influential rulers attempted to introduce some consistency to the calendar and solidified the date of the New Year. Early on in the Roman Empire, March 1st was designated the start of a new calendar year. Having only ten months back then, the Roman year began with March and ended with December. This might explain a few things for those who have kept up with their Latin. The names for the months September through December where originally derived from the Latin words for seven (septem), eight (octo), nine (novem), and ten (decem). Today, with our twelve month calendar, the Latin meanings for the names of these months are somewhat arbitrary since September through December are no loner the seven through tenth months, but are instead the ninth through twelfth months. So why the change? Ask Numa Pompilius!
After the first king of Rome died (Romulus), Numa Pompilius was elected to the throne. According to Plutarch (highly influential ancient philosopher and author), the pious Pompilius instituted several changes to the ten month calendar to allow for the observance of religious holidays and ensure consistency year after year. In addition to designating specific time periods for doing business and observing holidays, Pompilius added January, February and intercalary months which segmented the calendar in to twelve lunar months to better correspond with the solar year.
January became the beginning of the civil year, the time of year when newly elected Roman consuls began their one-year appointments. The New Year celebration was moved to the beginning of January but was still occasionally celebrated on March 1st. It was Julius Caesar who enforced the practice of observing January 1st as the start of the new year. But during the time between Numa and Julius, a series of Roman leaders abused their right to change the calendar (mainly for political gain) and by the time Caesar took over, January was occurring in the fall. Caesar set it straight by introducing the Julian Calendar and decreeing a winter time January 1st to be the official beginning of a new year. After Caesar, celebrating January 1st as the new year went off track for a short time period in some parts of the world, like Europe during the Middle Ages when such partying was deemed a pagan affair, but returned with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar (beginning in 1582) that again named New Year's day as the first day of January.
So today, if you live where they follow a Gregorian calendar, January 1st is a public holiday for you (accept in Israel) and confetti filled, champagned, horn tooting, firecrackered parties the night before will abound. If you are still using the Julian calendar, you'll be celebrating New Year's about 14 days after the rest of us. But for all there are New Year's traditions that transcend. Perhaps the most common are the remembrance of the year just passed, the stating of resolutions for the coming year, and the ushering in of good luck.
Media sources the world over end the year with a look back at the events and notable happening from the passing year. The highlights generally include the most memorable pop-culture events, a listing of famous people who died over the year, the coverage of natural disasters, wars, devastating events, national and international hot topics and a recap of politics in general.
Like the celebration of New Year's itself, the making of a New Year's resolution dates back to Babylonian times as well. Back then it was more about resolving to return all borrowed items in the New Year to your neighbors but today people make resolutions to do all sorts of things during the year to come. The most common resolutions now-days include quitting smoking, losing weight, and exercising more.
The first day of the New Year has traditionally been viewed as a day of luck. It's thought that what a person does or consumes on this day can affect their luck for the next year. So if you're looking for ways to increase your luck over the next 12 months, be careful who you have over and what you eat! If you know any tall, dark-haired men, have them stop by on January 1st, folklore says they bring the best luck. And try eating things that are shaped in a ring (the Dutch like donuts). Add some black-eyed peas, hog jowls or ham, cabbage, and rice to your donuts and you'll have created a lucky cuisine for sure! While the combination may not be the most appetizing, all these foods are thought by different cultures the world over to bring good luck and prosperity when ingested on New Year's Day.
Other common traditions and customs that accompany New Year's Eve and the first day of January include the playing of "Auld Lang Syne", the image of a baby, parades, the New York Times Square celebration, and kissing. Most likely based on an old Scottish folk song, "Auld Lang Syne", which literally means "old long ago" or in today's lingo "the good old days", can be heard in most English speaking countries throughout the world around the New Year. Generally, credit for the lyrics is given to Robert Burns who is said to have written it based on a Scottish tune back in the 1700's.
The pairing of a baby with the New Year dates back to ancient Greek and Egyptian times. In Greece, the annual rebirth celebration for the god of wine and spirit of fertility (Dionysus) included the parading of a baby in a basket. The baby was also a symbol of rebirth for the Egyptians. Like other holiday customs spawned from pagan traditions, the imagery of a baby in association with New Year's was at first shunned by the Christian church. But when the popularity of Baby New Year (as he is commonly known today) failed to cease, the Church reconsidered its opposition. Generally, Baby New Year still represents rebirth in the sense that the year is starting over again anew. But after his birth on January 1st, Baby New Year grows up fast and becomes the elderly Father Time by years end. Father Time then passes the torch to a new baby at the start of another year, continuing the cycling of calendar years and unnaturally rapid aging of mythical humans.
The Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, CA occurs annually on New Year's Day and is watched by people around the world. Since it's inception in 1890 when the Valley Hunt Club took to the streets with flower covered carriages, the Rose Parade, as it is commonly known, has grown and now features dazzling floats elaborately decorated with a wide variety of natural materials. The Rose Bowl Game, a collegiate football post-season tournament game, was added in 1902 and is equally as popular. According to the Tournament of Roses web site, the game has sold out every year since 1947.
Along with babies, parades, and football, New Year's would not be complete without the Ball drop in New York City's Times Square. The lighted Ball descends downs a pole in Times Square during the last minute of December 31st. As the Ball lowers for 60 second, it hits the bottom at exactly 12:00 am on January 1st each year. The event to usher in the year 2008 marked the 100th anniversary of the Ball drop in New York City. The Ball, which has been upgraded periodically since its birth, was transformed like never before for its 100th birthday. Six hundred seventy two Waterford Crystal triangles, with cutting on both sides (a first), made up the Ball and were designed to maximize light refraction. Another first, the ball was outfitted with LED lighting, which increased its brightness, energy efficiency, and ability to change colors. The previous Ball featured 600 incandescent and halogen bulbs, whereas the new Ball has 9,576 LEDs.
Holding parties on New Year's Eve is a common practice. Champagne is traditionally served and party favors or top hats and horns or other noise makers are usually given. At midnight on New Year's Eve fireworks are shot off in professional displays at planned community events around the world and in the United States it's also common to hear people firing off their left over Fourth of July firecrackers in the streets. Also at midnight, people kiss someone they care about (or whoever is close by) to share the celebration and start the New Year off in a positive way.
