New Year’s Day is a national holiday celebrated on January 1st, the first day of the New Year, following both the Gregorian and the Julian calendars. This New Years’ holiday is often marked by fireworks, parades, and reflection upon the previous year while looking ahead to the future’s possibilities. Many people celebrate New Year’s in the company of loved ones, involving traditions intended to bring luck and success in the upcoming year. Many cultures celebrate this happy day in their own unique way. Typically the customs and traditions of happy New Years involve celebrating with champagne and a variety of different foods. New Years marks a date of newly found happiness and a clean slate. For many celebrating New Years, it is their opportunity to learn from the prior year and make positive changes in their life.
New Year’s Day Holiday History
New Year’s is one of the oldest holidays still celebrated, but the exact date and nature of the festivities has changed over time. It originated thousands of years ago in ancient Babylon, celebrated as an eleven day festival on the first day of spring. During this time, many cultures used the sun and moon cycle to decide the “first” day of the year. It wasn’t until Julius Caesar implemented the Julian calendar that January 1st became the common day for the celebration. The content of the festivities has varied as well. While early celebrations were more paganistic in nature, celebrating Earth’s cycles, Christian tradition celebrates the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on New Year’s Day. Roman Catholics also often celebrate Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, a feast honoring Mary. However, in the twentieth century, the holiday grew into its own celebration and mostly separated from the common association with religion. It has become a holiday associated with nationality, relationships, and introspection rather than a religious celebration, although many people do still follow older traditions.
New Year’s Day Resolutions
While celebration varies all over the world, the New Year’s Day Resolutions are probably the most common tradition.
• Making resolutions or goals to improve one’s life.
• Common resolutions concern diet, exercise, bad habits, and other issues concerning personal wellness. A common view is to use the first day of the year as a clean slate to improve one’s life.
New Year’s Resolutions Get A Bad Rap
That’s probably because they have the life span of a gnat. Usually.
It takes a tremendous amount of will-power and discipline to stick with something beyond a “honeymoon” two-week period following the excitement of the holidays.
Some of you can feel the stares from your spouse already. Or the whispers. Looks like she’s fallen off the wagon early this year, he might say to himself when he sees you down a whole cheesecake on January 6. In your defense, it did have fruit on top, so that’s something.
But just because a good habit is stopped doesn’t mean it was a bad idea in the first place. Far from it. Good habits are always good ideas. A list of personal improvements or goals is an excellent way to take inventory of your life.
The point all of us making resolutions have to remember is this: don’t let the cheesecake on January 6 define us.
The great thing about being human is that everyday starts out with the sun rising. The past is exactly that. We have a new opportunity to start anew and do all those things that we didn’t do yesterday. A New Year’s resolution is all about staying positive, being optimistic that despite yesterday’s failure, today is the day I’m going to lick it! (I don’t mean the cheesecake.)
So perhaps instead of having New Year’s resolutions, we need to have daily resolutions. What am I going to do today to improve my quality of life? What am I going to do today to be a positive influence on those around me? What am I going to do today to get one step closer to kicking that bad habit of mine that’s been bugging me?
Go ahead and make those resolutions. Push forward and encourage others to do the same. Don’t bash them or give them the “I told you so” when they fail to fulfill their commitment. If we can do these simple steps, I think we will help everyone’s lives to be a little bit better.
