New Year's Traditions
By Sherril Steele-Carlin
Most historians believe New Year's Day is the oldest celebrated holiday in recorded history. Babylonians wrote about their celebrations over 4000 years ago, and the traditions associated with New Year's differ around the world, but seem to become a little more important each year.
Across America, the nation celebrates each New Year with a variety of traditions and practices that indicate our diversity as well as our national hope for each future year.
The Resolutions
Making New Year's resolutions is a highlight of the holiday for many. Most people aren't aware this tradition began in ancient Babylon, where residents returned items they had borrowed during the year to begin each year with a "clean slate." Today, resolutions may not last throughout the year, but most Americans begin the year with many hopeful resolutions about the future, such as losing weight, quitting smoking, or being better people during the next year.
Baby Represents the New Year
This is also an ancient tradition that has continued to modern times. Using a baby to represent the New Year was common among ancient Greeks as far back as 600 B.C. Also, it was the Romans who first began the year with January 1st as a part of the Julian calendar, which replaced ancient methods of marking the year.
New Year Foods
Many southerners believe no New Year celebration is complete without a dish of black-eyed peas and cabbage for luck. The most common dish is "Hoppin' John," and you'll find a recipe below if you'd like to create this traditional dish. In other areas, Italians and some Basques enjoy Bagna Cauda, (literally "hot bath"), a hot oil dish filled with garlic, and the Pennsylvania Dutch enjoy sauerkraut and pork to celebrate the day.
American Traditions
Some of the American traditions surrounding New Year's Day include dropping the ball in New York's Time Square at midnight, the Rose Parade and football bowl games on New Year's Day, and champagne to celebrate the coming year. Shooting off fireworks is also common, and it is believed this is also an ancient custom that was designed to scare away evil spirits, and it may have originated in China, where fireworks were first created.
Other Traditions
Not all nationalities and religions celebrate New Year's Day in January. For example, the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah), falls in October, the Chinese New Year usually falls at the end of January or the beginning of February, and the Islamic New Year is based on a 354-day calendar, so it rotates each year.
