Happy New Year!
We have come to the end of another year. A year of turmoil and strife around the world, political and social division here at home, a culture war for dominance in our beliefs and value systems, economic highs and lows, looming shortages and escalating prices of energy, widespread starvation, deprivation and abundance, expressions of great love and kindness juxtaposed against acts of unspeakable cruelty and violence, all mixed with the warp speed growth of technology in a world that is already dizzy from the accelerating march of civilization to we know not where. And, to cap it off, we all grow another year older as we move on.
The New Year is also a time for celebration. I’ve never quite understood that. Watching people party on New Years Eve as if there’s no tomorrow has always puzzled me. For one thing, I’ve never really been able to figure out what people get out of such self-abuse. They obviously think it’s fun. I think it’s anything but fun. I guess that makes me “square,” but closing out one year and moving into the next has usually given me pause to reflect and think about the mistakes I have made and how I might do better in the future.
Glenn Beck recently put the year-end holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s) in perspective when he observed, “Over time, we’ve mangled these holidays into unrecognizable displays of gluttony and greed… January 1st offers the promise of a new start and a new calendar year, but it’s become an excuse to party and drink so much that you wake up not even knowing what day it is.” (Glenn Beck email Newsletter, December 20, 2007).
He sees the holidays as a three-step process: “Step One (Thanksgiving) is gratitude…Step Two (Christmas) is redemption…Step Three (New Year’s) is hope. The New Year gives us a clean slate, made possible because we’ve already humbled ourselves, given thanks, and found redemption…None of these holidays started out as anything extravagant,” he adds, further noting, “Thanksgiving was just a proclamation, Christmas began in a stable, and the New Year has always just been a day on the calendar. But their magic is in what they represent and in the opportunities they give us.”
So, what is the New Year’s celebration really about? Is it nothing more than a recognition of the fact that we have survived another year and are getting a fresh start in the next year? Perhaps, but the origins of this oldest of all holidays actually date back about 4,000 years to ancient Babylon, when the most popular resolution was to return any farm equipment they had borrowed.
Glenn Beck may be right that New Year’s Day is about hope. Recorded history confirms that for thousands of years people have used it as a reason to whoop it up and celebrate the beginning of a new cycle in their lives. But, it wasn’t always on January 1st.
“In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible crescent) 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 nor 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… January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.” (newyears.com, History of New Years by Jerry Wilson)
For some people, celebrating the start of the New Year is a statement of gratitude (or relief) – that they’ve made it through another year and have a chance to start over and do better, hopefully to get it right in the next year, whatever that may mean to each individual. So, let’s party, shuck our baggage from the past and move ahead to a better, more successful and prosperous time.
If that’s what people are celebrating on New Year’s Eve, I can buy that. But, unfortunately, that’s not what I see. What I see is a round of gigantic parties going on around the globe, generally to excess and seemingly without reason, and I wonder why that money can’t be put to some better use?
John Shepler, in his New Year Celebration, New Year’s Eve and Day Festivities Around The World, commented, “There must be something inside of us that needs to unload the accumulated results of fate and our own decisions and start anew. The Romans knew this. The month of January was named for their god, Janus, who is pictured with two heads. One looks forward, the other back, symbolizing a break between the old and new. The Greeks paraded a baby in a basket to represent the spirit of fertility. Christians adopted this symbol as the birth of the baby Jesus and continued what started as a pagan ritual. Today our New Year’s symbols are a newborn baby starting the next year and an old man winding up the last year.”
Shepler also tells us: “Around the world, different cultures have their own traditions for welcoming the new year. The Japanese hang a rope of straw across the front of their houses to keep out evil spirits and bring happiness and good luck. They also have a good laugh as the year begins to get things started on a lucky note…In West Bengal, in northern India, the people like to wear pink, red, purple and white flowers. Women favor yellow, the color of spring. Hindus also leave shrines next to their beds so they can see beautiful objects when they wake up to the new year…In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canadians enjoy the traditional polar bear swim. People of all ages don their swim suits and take the plunge, an event that is sure to get you started in the new year with eyes wide open…In Scotland, they celebrate Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year, usually with great exuberance. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow host street parties for 100,000 people. At midnight, there is the celebration of ‘First Footing,’ where gifts are exchanged.”
Whatever your own view of New Year’s celebration may be, I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year!
© 2007 Harris R. Sherline, All Rights Reserved
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