New Year’s is a time of new beginnings, celebration and spending time together with friends and family. During the holiday, many people will reflect on significant events that occurred in their lives over the past year. Many will also use the holiday to look to the future and the promise that tomorrow holds. The most common tradition associated with the holiday is the tradition of making New Year’s Resolutions. When making a resolution, people will often challenge themselves to achieve a goal. These goals differ from person to person. Some examples of New Year’s Resolutions include starting a new career, starting on a new exercise plan, reading new books, traveling more or meeting new people.
Like other holidays, the celebration of New Year’s has evolved over many years. One of the earliest recorded celebrations of the holiday was the Akitu festival, celebrated by Ancient Mesopotamians in Babylon, located on the Euphrates River in what is now present day Iraq. The Akitu festival was celebrated near the vernal (spring) equinox on March 21, and may have correlated with harvest and or planting seasons. It would also become a celebration of the Babylonian god Marduk.
Many other cultures celebrated New Year’s Day in the springtime. Springtime is often a time of renewal, a time when everything is made new again. Still today, the Persian Calendar begins on or the day after the Spring Equinox, depending on whether the Equinox occurs before or after noon.
In the earliest ancient Roman calendar, the New Year occurred in March, as March was the first month of the original ten month calendar. This calendar was based on lunar and harvest cycles instead of the solar cycle our current calendar is based on. The ten month calendar is where the seemingly awkward names of the last four months of the year comes from (Septem meaning seven, Octem meaning eight, Novem nine and Decem ten). Later, a new calendar would be formed during the rule of Julius Caesar, and would come to be known as the Julian calendar. This calendar was based on the solar cycle and had 12 months. According to Wikipedia, ancient Roman records showed that New Year’s was dedicated to the Roman god Janus. Janus was the god of gates and doors, and symbolized transition and new beginnings. Janus had two faces, with one looking over the past year and one looking toward the New Year. This idea does not seem to have changed much over time, as this is a central idea in the way in which people still celebrate New Year’s.
From that time until the 1700s, different societies continued to celebrate the holiday either in January or March.
Times Square Bash
The Polar Bear Club (Plunge) - Although it isn’t strictly a New Year’s tradition, many people participate in the Polar Bear Club on New Year’s Day. When participating in the Polar Bear Club, people will go swimming in ice cold water in the middle of winter. This tradition occurs throughout Canada, the United States and parts of Europe.