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The history of New Year's celebration
Posted on Monday, December 31, 2008 (CST) by Thoth
 "Happy New Year!" That greeting will be said and heard for at least the first couple of weeks as a new year gets under way. But the day celebrated as New Year's Day in modern America was not always Jan. 1.
The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible cresent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring). The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year. After all, it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of blossoming. Jan. 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.
The Babylonian new year celebration lasted for 11 days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year's Eve festivities pale in comparison.
The Romans
continued to observe the new year in late March, but their calendar was
continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon
became out of synchronization with the sun.
In order to set the
calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared Jan. 1 to be the
beginning of the new year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar,
in 46 BC, established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar.
It again established Jan. 1 as the new year. But in order to
synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous
year drag on for 445 days.
The Church's View on New Year Celebrations
Although in the first
centuries AD the Romans continued celebrating the new year, the early
Catholic Church condemned the festivities as paganism. But as
Christianity became more widespread, the early church began having its
own religious observances concurrently with many of the pagan
celebrations, and New Year's Day was no different. New Years is still
observed as the Feast of Christ's Circumcision by some denominations.
During the Middle Ages, the
Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years. Jan. 1 has been
celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400
years.
New Year Traditions
Other traditions of the
season include the making of New Year's resolutions. That tradition
also dates back to the early Babylonians. Popular modern resolutions
might include the promise to lose weight or quit smoking. The early
Babylonian's most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm
equipment.
The Tournament of Roses
Parade dates back to 1886. In that year, members of the Valley Hunt
Club decorated their carriages with flowers. It celebrated the ripening
of the orange crop in California.
Although the Rose Bowl
football game was first played as a part of the Tournament of Roses in
1902, it was replaced by Roman chariot races the following year. In
1916, the football game returned as the sports centerpiece of the
festival.
The tradition of using a baby to signify the new year was begun in Greece around 600 BC.
It was their tradition at
that time to celebrate their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby
in a basket, representing the annual rebirth of that god as the spirit
of fertility. Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.
Although the early
Christians denounced the practice as pagan, the popularity of the baby
as a symbol of rebirth forced the Church to reevaluate its position.
The Church finally allowed
its members to celebrate the new year with a baby, which was to
symbolize the birth of the baby Jesus.
The use of an image of a
baby with a New Years banner as a symbolic representation of the new
year was brought to early America by the Germans. They had used the
effigy since the fourteenth century.
For Luck in the New Year
Traditionally, it was
thought that one could affect the luck they would have throughout the
coming year by what they did or ate on the first day of the year. For
that reason, it has become common for folks to celebrate the first few
minutes of a brand new year in the company of family and friends.
Parties often last into the middle of the night after the ringing in of
a new year. It was once believed that the first visitor on New Year's
Day would bring either good luck or bad luck the rest of the year. It
was particularly lucky if that visitor happened to be a tall
dark-haired man.
Traditional New Year foods
are also thought to bring luck. Many cultures believe that anything in
the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes "coming full
circle," completing a year's cycle. For that reason, the Dutch believe
that eating donuts on New Year's Day will bring good fortune.
Many parts of the U.S.
celebrate the new year by consuming black-eyed peas. These legumes are
typically accompanied by either hog jowls or ham. Black-eyed peas and
other legumes have been considered good luck in many cultures. The hog,
and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes
prosperity. Cabbage is another "good luck" vegetable that is consumed
on New Year's Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign of
prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions,
rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year's Day.
Auld Lang Syne
The song, "Auld Lang Syne,"
is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking
country in the world to bring in the new year. At least partially
written by Robert Burns in the 1700's, it was first published in 1796
after Burns' death.
Early variations of the
song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern
rendition. An old Scotch tune, "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old
long ago," or simply, "the good old days."
Copyright: Wilstar
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