“Each age has deemed the new-born year
The fittest time for festal cheer.”
–Sir Walter Scott
As the year2022 come to an end, we all have high hopes, fresh plans, new targets full of positivity lined up for the fresh new year. But not many of us know that initially January 1 didn’t mark the beginning of the New Year. The first known record of New Year’s celebrations began about 2000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. This occurred at the time of the vernal equinox, which is towards the end of March.
We can partly thank the Roman King Numa Pompilius. According to tradition, during his reign (c. 715–673 BCE), Numa revised the Roman republican calendar so that January replaced March as the first month. It was a fitting choice, since January was named after Janus, the Roman god of all beginnings. March celebrated Mars, the god of war. However, there is evidence that January 1 was not made the official start of the Roman Year until 153 BCE.
In 46 BCE Julius Caesar introduced more changes, though the Julian calendar, as it became known, retained January 1 as the year’s opening date. Another reason behind making January 1 the start of the New Year was to honour Janus- the Roman God of beginnings who had two faces. This means that he could go back to the past and move forward to the future.
People all around the globe ring in the New Year, but not all celebrate the same way Americans do, or even on the same day. Though people have different traditions and customs, most feel grateful for the year that passed and optimistic about the one that’s about to begin. Several New Year’s celebrations stretch across several days, like the Burmese and Thai New Year. The Chinese New Year is the longest, lasting 15 days.
Many calendars have religious foundations. Some calendars are based on the lunar cycle, some on the solar cycle. The Chinese calendar is luni solar. Because of the different cycles, the different New Year’s in relation to the Gregorian calendar — either fall on the same day every year, or occur over a range of days. For example, the Ethiopian New Year falls on September 11 every year, whereas the Chinese New Year can take place anytime between January 21 and February 20.
Of course, the beginning of a new year cannot come and go without some sort of celebration. In some cultures, there are rituals that honour the year that lapsed and customs that welcome the coming year, specifically auspicious prayers in hopes of receiving a bestowal of blessings. The celebrations differ from culture to culture.
The Balinese welcome the New Year by spending the entire day in absolute silence. That’s much different from the Burmese, who celebrate the New Year with a three-to-four-day-long water festival. The Thais have a custom of pouring water on the elders of society in order to receive blessings for the New Year.
May this New Year bring immense success & prosperity in your life, wishing all the readers of ‘Rising Kashmir’ a very Happy & a flourishing NewYear 2023
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
–Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92)
