New Years Trivia: Did you know that a raisin dropped in a glass of
fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the
glass to the top.
"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 on January 1.
ANCIENT NEW YEARS
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. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical non
agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.
The Babylonian new year celebration
lasted for eleven 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 January 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 January 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 OF 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. January 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.
