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 The tradition of the New Year's Resolutions goes all the way back
to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the
head of the calendar.
With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward
to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and
many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged
gifts before the beginning of each year.
The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn't
begin on that date everywhere today. It begins on that date only
for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. January 1 became
the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed
a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous
calendars had.
The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god
of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always
depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on
the back. Thus he could look backward and forward at the same time.
At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back
at the old year and forward to the new.
The Romans began a tradition
of exchanging gifts on New Year's Eve by giving one another branches
from sacred trees for good fortune. Later, nuts or coins imprinted
with the god Janus became more common New Year's gifts.
In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to December
25, the birth of Jesus. Then they changed it to March 25, a holiday
called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory
XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New
Year was returned to January 1.
The Julian and Gregorian calendars are solar calendars. Some cultures
have lunar calendars, however. A year in a lunar calendar is less
than 365 days because the months are based on the phases of the
moon. The Chinese use a lunar calendar. Their new year begins at
the time of the first full moon (over the Far East) after the sun
enters Aquarius- sometime between January 19 and February 21.
Although the date for New Year's Day is not the same in every culture,
it is always a time for celebration and for customs to ensure good
luck in the coming year.
The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays.
It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In
the years around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of
a new year on what is now March 23, although they themselves had
no written calendar.
Late March actually is a logical choice for the beginning of a
new year. It is the time of year that spring begins and new crops
are planted. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor
agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.
The Babylonian New Year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each
day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to
say that modern New Year's Eve festivities pale in comparison.
The Romans continued to observe the New Year on March 25, but their
calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that
the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.
In
order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared
January 1 to be the beginning of the New Year. But tampering continued
until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has come to be known
as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1 as the New
Year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar
had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.
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