New Year’s Day

Note: Underlined words have definitions at the end of this article provided by The Basic Newbury House Dictionary. Definitions with an asterisk (*) are supplied by the author, Bill Perry.

New Year’s Day is a holiday celebrated everywhere in the world, but not on the same day! Celebrating New Year’s on different days began with ancient cultures that had different calendars. Religions and cultural traditions made them different. For example, the ancient Egyptians celebrated New Year’s in the middle of June, when the Nile River flooded the lowlands. Different reasons caused Chinese, Jewish, Roman and Islamic calendars to have different dates for their year’s first day [see April Fool’s Day].

In spite of the reasons, however, people celebrate every New Year in special ways with great happiness. Giving gifts is a major part of New Year celebrations in many countries. This custom started thousands of years ago when people brought gifts to religious temples. Janus was the old Roman god of gates and doors, as well as beginnings and endings. His picture shows him with two faces – one looking forward, the other looking backward. The word January comes from his name. People gave gifts to Janus because they thought, “My New Year will be better if I bring a gift to Janus.” They also gave gifts to many important government leaders on New Year’s Day.

Visiting friends and family members has been part of New Year celebrations in some countries. Since people did not travel very much in the past, New Year’s gave people a reason to visit others they normally did not see during the year. They would talk about what happened the year before and ask about plans for the future.

Long ago people in England believed that cleaning their chimneys would bring them good luck. So cleaning a chimney on New Year’s Day would bring good luck the whole year! This custom was practiced there for hundreds of years. It also created the saying, Clean the slate, which means, “wipe the dust off this flat surface.” Today this phrase means “forget what is past and begin again or start over.”

New Year’s Day in the US has five main customs. The first is New Year’s Eve parties, when people celebrate the hopes and dreams for the coming year. The national symbol of this is the great ball on top of a building in Times Square in New York City. The ball has the number of the New Year on it and moves down on a pole very slowly. The number of the year cannot be seen until the New Year comes. Over a million people gather there to count down the last hours and minutes of the old year. They sing, shout, dance and kiss! Many people raise their drinks to toast the New Year. The passing of the old year seems to make Americans more hopeful for the new year. Most Americans cannot explain this hope they have.

The second New Year custom is celebrating with fireworks on New Year’s Eve. In most parts of the US people need permission from the government to use fireworks. Many people will stay up very late. Then at midnight they light firecrackers, rockets and flares to celebrate the New Year. This custom is like the Chinese custom of fireworks at New Year’s.

The third tradition is the number of football “bowl” games that appear on television. The last week of the year has at least one football game each night on TV that can be seen anywhere in the country. This custom is not really a custom created by the New Year. Many games are played because the football season ends near the end of the year. But some people believe football and New Year’s are related in some way.

The fourth custom of New Year’s is the parade. Similar to Thanksgiving Day parades [see Thanksgiving], many floats, marching bands and huge balloons in many shapes are important parts of these parades. They happen in the morning and can be seen on television. They represent the happiness and celebration of the first day of the New Year. The fifth custom is New Year’s resolutions. A resolution is a decision to improve personal behavior by making changes. Examples of resolutions are: stop smoking, stop drinking, start on a diet, begin saving (more) money, read a number of books each year,

or almost any other change that makes them better. Not all people make resolutions, but many do. By the end of January most people who made a resolution quit or stop the change. This is called, “breaking the resolution.” This happens because new habits are hard to start and old habits are hard to stop. Resolutions show that Americans know they need to make changes, but many do not have a good plan to help them make those changes.

Many churches in America will have a special meeting on New Year’s Eve called a “Watch Night” Service. During this service Christians will pray, enjoy friendship with each other, share personal testimonies, light candles and listen to Bible teaching. Like the two-faced Janus, Christians look back at the old year. They remember God’s goodness to them the past year. They also look forward to the New Year by thinking about things God wants them to do. Some Christians make decisions or commitments to obey God more during the New Year. They are like resolutions. Whether resolutions are religious or not, the New Year is a good time to start again.

Vocabulary

*bowl games (noun) – important football games played in stadiums that look like huge bowls and have different names.

calendar (noun) – a chart of the days and months of a year or years.

chimney (noun) – the large metal pipe or hollow brick structure for passing smoke from a fire or furnace into the open air.

fireworks (noun) – a show of light, colorful explosives for celebration.

*flare (noun) – a fire or light used to signal or attract attention.

float (noun) — a colorful display set on wheels in a parade.

habit (noun) – something you do often.

*testimonies (noun) – true stories about people’s past religious experiences.

toast (verb) – to honor someone (or something), especially with a drink.

Watch Night Service (noun) – a special church meeting held on New Year’s Eve that encourages people to be more obedient to God in the New Year.

©Bill Perry. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.