EVER WONDER by Jacque Scott: New Year’s Eve and Day
New Year’s Eve and Day
Ever wonder about New Year’s Eve and Day? Of course we love getting all dressed up and going to parties which last well into the night, but what makes this one day so special?
It is traditional to greet the New Year at midnight with a special loved one. People often dance, sing, and drink a toast to the year ahead. Horns are blown at midnight, and people hug and kiss to begin the New Year with love and happiness.
After the celebrations, many make New Year resolutions or decisions about how to live in the coming year. Popular resolutions include stopping smoking or losing weight. And, as we all know, our good intentions often don’t last through the first week. I am afraid I am quite guilty here…… This is a tradition that dates back to the early Babylonians, and their most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.
There are many traditions connected with New Years. In British Columbia, Canada, there is a traditional polar bear swim. People of all ages put on their swimsuits and dive into the icy cold water surrounding Vancouver in the winter.
The first Tournament of Roses Parade was in 1890. Members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages to celebrate a mild winter and the ripening of the orange crop in California. By 1895, the Tournament of Roses Parade grew too large and the Tournament of Roses Association took charge of the festivities. Today elaborate floats can take up to a year to design and build.
The Rose Bowl Football game was first played as just a party part of the parade festivities in 1902. Roman Chariot races replaced it the next year. In 1916, the football game became the main sport of the festival.
The tradition of using a baby to signify the new year was begun in Greece in about 600 BC. The Greeks celebrated their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading around a baby in a basket to signify the annual birth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.
Early Christians denounced the practice as pagan, but when they saw that the symbol of rebirth was so popular, they had to take another stand on the subject.
The Church finally allowed its members to celebrate the new year with a baby to symbolize the birth of the baby Jesus. The Germans had practiced this tradition since the fourteenth century, and they brought it to early America.
The most common song sung on New Year’s Eve is the old Scottish song, “Auld Lang Syne. Robert Burns first published it in the 1796 edition of his book, Scots Musical Museum. He changed some of the lyrics after hearing it sung by an old man.
It has been said that “Auld Lang Syne” is one of the most popular songs that nobody knows the lyrics to. “Auld Lang Syne” is literally translated as “old long since” and means “times gone by”. The song asks if friends and times will be forgotten. We are told to remember people of the past with kindness. “We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet.”
We continue to prepare certain dishes associated with New Year’s Day. Black-eyed peas are said to be lucky and date back to Vicksburg, Virginia. During the Civil War, the town ran out of food while under siege, and the townspeople were lucky to find ‘cow peas’ or black-eyed peas. Cabbage leaves are a symbol of prosperity and are thought to bring prosperity to those who eat them on New Year’s Day.
This was just a tiny bit about New Year’s Day and some of the traditions associated with it. Don’t forget to kiss your loved one into the New Year with love and happiness. And, eat some black-eyed peas and cabbage…… God bless you.