BLIDHNA MATH UR!
20:30 Dec 31 2010
Times Read: 714
well, hoping you all have everything that you wish for, this coming year and in the years to follow. SLAINTE!
ANCIENT NEW YEARS
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, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible cresent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).
The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year. After all, it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of blossoming. 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 in late March, 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.
THE CHURCH'S VIEW OF NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS
Although in the first centuries AD the Romans continued celebrating the new year, the early Catholic Church condemned the festivities as paganism. But as Christianity became more widespread, the early church began having its own religious observances concurrently with many of the pagan celebrations, and New Year's Day was no different. New Years is still observed as the Feast of Christ's Circumcision by some denominations.
[http://wilstar.com/holidays/newyear.htm]
FACTS ABOUT JANUARY
Customs and Traditions
*Gemstone: Garnet
*Flower: Carnation
The beginning of the new year and the time to make New Year resolutions.
January was established as the first the first month of the year by the Roman Calendar. It was named after the god Janus (Latin word for door). Janus has two faces which allowed him to look both backwards into the old year and forwards into the new one at the same time. He was the 'spirit of the opening'.
In the very earliest Roman calendars there were no months of January or February at all. The ancient Roman calendar had only ten months and the new year started the year on 1 March. To the Romans, ten was a very important number. Even when January (or Januarius as the Romans called it) was added, the New Year continued to start in March. It remained so in England and her colonies until about 200 years ago.
The Anglo-Saxons called the first month Wolf monath because wolves came into the villages in winter in search of food.
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is the first day of the year, in the Gregorian calendar. In modern times, it is the 1st January. It is a time for looking forward and wishing for a good year ahead. It is also a holiday.
People welcome in the New Year on the night before. This is called New Year's Eve. In Scotland, people celebrate with a lively festival called Hogmanay. All over Britain there are parties, fireworks, singing and dancing, to ring out the old year and ring in the new. As the clock - Big Ben - strikes midnight, people link arms and sing a song called Auld Lang Syne. It reminds them of old and new friends.
The Door Custom
In the old days, the New Year started with a custom called 'first footing', which was supposed to bring good luck to people for the coming year. As soon as midnight had passed and January 1st had started, people used to wait behind their doors for a dark haired person to arrive. The visitor carried a piece of coal, some bread, some money and some greenery. These were all for good luck - the coal to make sure that the house would always be warm, the bread to make sure everyone in the house would have enough food to eat, money so that they would have enough money, and the greenery to make sure that they had a long life.
The visitor would then take a pan of dust or ashes out of the house with him, thus signifying the departure of the old year.
The 1st of January was a highly significant day in medieval superstitions regarding prosperity, or lack of it, in the year ahead. A flat cake was put on one of the horns of a cow in every farmyard. The farmer and his workers would then sing a song and dance around the cow until the cake was thrown to the ground. If it fell in front of the cow that signified good luck; to fall behind indicated the opposite.
It was an old Saxon belief that 2nd January was one of the unluckiest days of the whole year. Those unfortunate enough to be born on this day could expect to die an unpleasant death.
St Hilary's feast day on 13th January has gained the reputation of being the coldest day of the year due to past cold events starting on or around this date.
One of the most severe winters in history began around 13 January in 1205, when the Thames in London froze over and ale and wine turned to solid ice and were sold by weight.
"So began a frost which continued till the two and twentieth day of March, so that the ground could not be tilled; whereof it came to pass that, in summer following a quarter of wheat was sold for a mark of silver in many places of England, which for the more part in the days of King Henry the Second was sold for twelve pence; a quarter of beans or peas for half a mark; a quarter of oats for thirty pence, that were wont to be sold for fourpence. Also the money was so sore clipped that there was no remedy but to have it renewed."—Stowe's Chronicle- In 1086, a great frost also started spreading over the country on St Hilary's Day
Customs of the Year's First New Moon
It is said that if you look through a silk handkerchief at the new moon, which has never been washed, the number of moons you see will be the number of years which will pass until you're married. But it is unlucky to see the new moon through a window.
To dream of your future husband, it is said that at the first appearance of the first new moon of the year you should go out and stand over the spars of a gate or stile and look at the moon saying:
All hail to thee moon, all hail to thee,
I prythee, good moon, reveal to me,
This night who my husband shall be.
Festivals and Traditions
Wassailing has been associated with Christmas and New Year as far back as the 1400s. It was a way of passing on good wishes among family and friends.
People went from door to door, rather like carol singers at Christmas times, but at New Year they were called 'wassailers'.
25th January: Burns Night
The people of Scotland honour their greatest poet, Robert Burns. He was born on 25th January approximately 250 years ago (1759) and wrote his first song when he was sixteen. A traditional Scottish meal is neaps (swede), tatties (potato) and haggis washed down with whisky.
[http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/year/january.htm]
WHAT HAPPENS AT NEW YEAR?
The whole range of celebration of the New Year's Day basically stems from the various ways ancient societies used to greet the new harvest seasons. In fact, it is the number of harvests, whether of fruit or grain, that determined how many New Years were observed. The origins of the customs that we think of as peculiarly associated with the celebration of the New Year, took roots in the ways the ancient peoples regarded the New Year. Likewise the other ancient societies in other parts of the world, the New Year festivities had been observed in our wild forests and plains by the native Indians. To the Creek Indians the ripening of the corn in July or August signified the termination of one year and the beginning of another. It was their customs to drape themselves with new clothes, replace the old interiors and households.
The Iroquois, another native Indian tribe who inaugurated the new year in January, February or March with ceremonies emphasizing the expulsion of evil spirits. The customs of sporting disguise and masks, making noises and confessions were all practiced by them.
Symbolically, New Year signifies a renewal of life. Hence, the spirit of celebration for the regeneration, while discarding the old and worn out. The customs and practices, though modified through the centuries, have still their distinctive strains in the ways we welcome each onrushing year.
Given here are some instances of New Year's Day revelry with their historical trails:
The Mid-night cacophony:
The idea of making deafening noise is to drive away the evil spirits who flocked to the living at this climactic season with a great wailing of horns and shouts and beating of drums. This is why at the stroke of midnight we hear the deafening cacophony of sirens, car horns, boat whistles, party horns, church bells, drums, pots and pans - anything that serves the purpose of producing a devil chasing din.
The booze bash:
Yet another familiar practice, though not quite encouraging. The unbridled drinking bash on the New Year's Eve, is the booze bash also a secular leftover of a rite that was once religious in character. The original spirit has been a personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the ordered cosmos was created by God.
Resolution:
In order to have a 'clean slate' on which to start the New Year, people in times past have made certain that they had all their borrowings cleared. Those were the days before such complexities as credit buying. The New Year resolutions, which we are so fond of, represent other efforts to make the year brand new. In fact, we often say that in the New Year we are "turning over a new leaf."
Luck in the New Year:
It is traditionally thought that the first day of the year is symptomatic of the approaching 364 days. Accordingly, people try to spend the first day of the new year in the best possible way in the company of family and friends. It was once believed to be a good omen if a tall dark-haired man visits your house on New Year's Day. Traditional New Year foods are also thought to bring good luck. In many cultures, it is a predominant belief that anything in the shape of a ring brings luck, because it symbolizes "coming full circle," completing a year's cycle. It is primarily for this reason that the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year's Day brings good fortune. Black-eyed peas and other legumes have been considered good luck in many cultures. The hog, and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity. Consuming cabbage is also considered a potential harbinger of good luck. In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year's Day.
The gatherings:
The practice of visiting friends continued until the first years of this century. It was a gala time when everyone held open house and laid out enormous feasts for any one who should drop in, whether friend or stranger. To neglect this annual visit was a terrible sight, and the roads were thronged with carriages bearing the holiday-makers.
Unfortunately in time the custom was abused; the distinction between privacy and sociability was ignored and troops of unwanted guests descended on the open houses, using them as eating and drinking stations. Politicians and those with an eye on the social ladder were said to have spread their blight over the purposes of the day. People began to send invitations to special guests for their own protection, and the old custom fell irretrievably into decline.
Thus the whole range of ideas of purgation, purifications, the confessing of sins, driving off demons, expulsion of evil out of the village and so on transpired. The idea remained the same the abolition of the past. So is the case of masked processions - the masks representing the souls of the dead.The ceremonial reception of the dead, who are invited to feast and led back at the end of the feast to the borders of the territory, to the sea, or the river, or wherever else, is also in line with this concept. Add to these the interlude of Carnival, Saturnalia, reversal of normal order. Though all these constitute the much familiar New Year revelry, these are just part of the rites practiced by primitive man during the celebration of their own New Years.
[http://www.theholidayspot.com/newyear/celebration.htm]
AULD LANG SYNE
Scotland is where the famous song "Auld Lang Syne" originated, and this song has been a long held tradition for many people on New Years Day. In Scotland, the New Years Day celebration is known as Hogmanay, and it has many traditions. One tradition is to visit friends and neighbors shortly after midnight on New Years Day; visitors would bring gifts and warm wishes.
The song, "Auld Lang Syne, is generally sung at the stroke of midnight in Scotland. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700's, it was first published in 1796 after Burns' death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An old Scottish tune, "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days."
Auld Lang Syne
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
COMMENTS
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BLOODLIFE
21:48 Dec 31 2010
...and wishing you the very best for 2011. Happy New Year
Isis101
02:29 Jan 01 2011
Interesting info...
May you have a great New Year!
Blackstaff
06:22 Jan 01 2011
There should be a "LIKE" for these kind of entries ;) Happy New Year!