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Happy New Year! Did you know there is no ASTRONOMICAL reason to celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1? Beginning around 2000 BC, ancient BABYLONIANS, modern-day Iraq, celebrated New Year’s Day in March. Ancient EGYPTIANS and PERSIANS celebrated their new year in concert with the AUTUMNAL EQUINOX in September. Ancient Greeks welcomed the new year alongside the winter solstice in mid-December.
What are we talking about today? NEW YEARS
There is no _________ reason to celebrate NYD on January 1? astronomical
What month did ancient Babylonians celebrate NYD? March
What modern-day country was Babylonia located in? Iraq
When did ancient Egyptians and Persians celebrate the new year? AUTUMNAL EQUINOX
Who celebrated the new year in mid-December alongside the winter solstice? Ancient Greeks
Romans have been celebrating New Year’s Day in January since roughly 42 BC. JANUS is the LEXICAL (word-based) origin of the month we know as January. Janus was a two-faced Roman god who looked back into the old year and forward into the new. He was the god of gates and doorways, beginnings and endings, peace and conflict. It was not until the 16th century New Year’s Day fell in line with the GREGORIAN calendar date of January 1. The Gregorian calendar is an international calendar known as a “Western” or “Christian” calendar. This calendar is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who first introduced it in 1582.
When did Romans begin to celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1? 42 BC
What Roman god is the lexical origin of the word/month January? JANUS
What did Janus’s two faces allow him to do that is so special? Look forward/backward; two-faced, etc
What was Janus the god of? gates and doorways; beginnings and endings; peace and conflict
What is a Gregorian calendar? international calendar; western; or Christian calendar.
Who introduced the Gregorian Calendar? Pope Gregory XIII
The creation of RESOLUTIONS is often a centerpiece of ushering in any new year. Ancient Babylonians made resolutions, or promises, to earn favor with the gods. Repayment of debt and promises to return borrowed farm equipment were popular resolutions in their day. Modern-day resolutions are often geared toward TANGIBLE (substantial; solid) personal goals like losing weight, building wealth, and improving their career. Some goals are hard to see with the eye but great for the heart, like strengthening friendships, volunteering in your community, or spending more time with family.
What is often the centerpiece of ushering in any new year? RESOLUTIONS
What type of promises or resolutions would Ancient Babylonians make? Repayment of debt; return borrowed equipment; earn the favor of the gods
Name one tangible personal goal that serves as a resolution today. losing weight, building wealth, improving their career
Think of your own example of a tangible goal.
Name one intangible modern-day New Year’s Resolution. Friendship, volunteering, time with family
Think of your own example of an intangible goal.
In ancient Rome, New Year’s celebrations consisted of visiting family and neighbors to wish them well and exchange gifts that corresponded with lucky properties. Sweets like honey brought peace, MONETARY (money) gifts brought PROSPERITY (wealth), and lamps offered a year filled with light. Modern-day celebrations feature food associated with lucky properties. Spanish-speaking cultures often DEVOUR 12 grapes right before midnight; the grapes symbolize their hopes for the new year. LEGUMES (beans), small plants or seeds of plants, are often on the menu for their uncanny resemblance to coins, a HARBINGER (a sign of things to come) of financial success! Swine are representative of prosperity and progress. As such, pork is a favorite on New Year’s Eve tables in many countries, including Cuba, Portugal, and Austria. In Norway, you are destined for 12 months of good fortune if you receive a serving of rice pudding that holds one lucky almond!
Who would an ancient Roman visit to celebrate New Year’s Day? Family, neighbors
What type of luck would the gift of a lamp bring in ancient Rome? A year filled with light
How many grapes do folks in Spanish-speaking countries eat right before midnight on New Year’s Eve? 12
What do the grapes symbolize? hopes (for the new year)
What do legumes look like? coins
What type of luck would eating legumes bring? Wealth, money, etc
Where do people eat pork on New Year’s Day? Cuba, Portugal, and Austria
What do the Norwegians eat? rice pudding; one lucky almond!
Which if any of these food traditions appeal to you?
So we can party like ancient Romans, right? We visit friends and family for lucky meals and look upon the new year in a positive light. After dinner, we play board games or dance until we have to kick off our shoes! At midnight we cling together in the cold or hover around our televisions to watch a magical ball drop from the sky in TIMES SQUARE, New York City – signaling the beginning of our new year. We practice variations of the Times Square NYC ball drop in our hometowns. For example, DILLSBURG, PA, drops pickles from the sky, and TALLAPOOSA, Georgia, drops a POSSUM!
Following a visit from friends and a lucky meal, what activity might someone do to pass the time before midnight? Play games, dance, visit
What event often signals the beginning of our new year? Ball drop
In what city does the magical ball drop out of the sky at midnight? New York City
In what city/state does a pickle fall from the sky at midnight? Dillsburg, PA
What drops out of the sky in Tallapoosa, Georgia? possum
What would you like to see drop from the sky to celebrate the stroke of midnight?
CREATIVE WRITING:
What are your New Year’s resolutions for 2019?
What tangible gift would you like to give on New Year’s, and what lucky property would it feature?
How do you currently celebrate the new year? How would you like to ring in the new year in the future?
Resources:
http://www.livescience.com/42255-history-of-new-years-resolutions.html
http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/new-years
