Origin of New Year's
New year's day is generally celebrated on January 1, as this denotes the start of another year. Anyway, this festival isn't new, and in fact, wasn't constantly celebrated on this day. As far back as 2000 B.C in Mesopotamia, new year’s day used to be celebrated in March, around the vernal equinox, which was the point at which they planted their harvests, and had a huge twelve-day celebration. Depending on the culture, new year's was likewise celebrated at different times, for example, fall equinox by the Persians, or even on the winter solstice like the Greeks used to.
New Year's Day history facts
How about we go on a tour through history, to comprehend the various changes the new year's day has undergone:
In early Rome, the calendar using the lunar year had just 10 months, with the primary month being March, and ending in December. So back then, March 1 was the first day of each new year.
In 700 B.C however, January and February were added by Nuna Pontilius, the second lord of Rome, which expanded the number of months to 12.
Be that as it may, it wasn't until 153 B.C before new year's was celebrated on January 1 in Rome. Even with this change, few individuals actually still continued the New year’s celebration in March.
In 46 B.C, Julius Ceaser presented what is currently known as the Julian Calendar following the sunlight based year, and it was here that January 1 (The month January is named after the Roman god Janus, the divine force of "doorways, arches and new beginnings") was authoritatively labelled the start of the new year.
Since the festivals were believed to be pagan-like, the chamber of Tours in year 567 annulled January 1 as new year's. Because of this abolishment, a few settlements across medieval Europe had various dates for new year's day. Some used the feast of annunciation, some used Easter, some chose December 25th, and others, March 1 as it used to be.
In 1582, the Gregorian schedule re-established January 1 as new year's day. The Catholics acknowledged this quickly, however in the US and UK where Protestant temples flourished, it took some effort for them to acknowledge the date, with a large number of them actually celebrating on March 1 regardless. It wasn’t really until 1752 before they went with it.
History of new year's eve
New year's Eve, Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day festivity is nearly as significant as new year's day festival, as one doesn't come without the other. The festivals are in all likelihood dated back to the bygone eras in Mesopotamia when new years was first celebrated with the Atiku festivals and several preparations beforehand.
Contingent upon where you live, new year's eve may be a public holiday, for example, in the Philippines, or a government holiday like in Japan, or bank holiday like in Bangladesh, and Paraguay, or an ordinary workday like in a few different nations e.g. The UK, Canada, and so forth.
A few customs exist depending upon your nation or culture and usually involve eating and drinking, firecrackers, social exercises, or strict exercises to get into the new year.
These customs go back thousands of years prior, but have since gone through a few changes, and been altered to what we have in our various societies. Additionally, even in present-day, not everyone allows the Gregorian schedule, e.g. Jews, Hindus, and even the Chinese.
New Year's Resolution History
Following the new year's eve festivals, individuals frequently make goals for the new year. These goals can be traced back to the same root of New years in 2000 BC. During the multiple day's festivities called Atiku, the Babylonians ordinarily had several activities lined up, for example, planting, delegating a ruler or paying allegiance to the current king, making penances to their gods, just as making vows to their gods to pay their obligations, as they believe it'll create a path for them in the new year.
This also continued with the Roman god, Janus in 46 BC as he's believed to be 2-faced, able to look back into the old year, and look forward into the new year. The Romans had a practice of making several sacrifices and promises to him in anticipation of good luck in the new year.
The resolution history can also be traced back to knights in the medieval times who had a practice of pledging to continue being chivalrous during their yearly peacock vow service.
Now that you know the history, where will you be celebrating 2021? What premises are their traditions and practices based on?
