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	A Time for Every Purpose by Linda Allen
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A Time for Every Purpose
by Linda Allen

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Here's to the bright New Year And a fond farewell to the old; Here's to the things that are yet to come And to the memories that we hold.
~ Traditional New Year's Toast

It may be hard to believe that the New Year could start on any other day but January 1, but until 600 years ago it did.

Four thousand years ago, the people of Babylon were the first to host a recorded observance of the New Year. Their celebration began with the first new moon after the vernal equinox, or first day of spring. Agricultural seasons or astronomical phenomena tended to influence early celebrations, while today, we live by the Gregorian calendar.

Always, however, man has been fascinated with time itself. He has monitored, measured, and even manipulated time for his purposes. He has tried to understand it.

There were good reasons why ancient civilizations and cultures relied on seasonal changes in the arranging of their calendars. The predictability of the seasons and weather were important in agricultural societies for both planting and harvesting chores. Ancient Persians and Egyptians began their New Year on September 21, the autumnal equinox, while the Greeks used June 21, the summer solstice, for their starting date.

In Rome, New Year's was originally celebrated on March 25, the spring equinox, but in 153 BC, the Romans changed it to January to synchronize the calendar with the sun. Successive emperors continued to manipulate the calendar for their own purposes until by 46 BC, it once again required another major adjustment -- this time to a year with 445 days -- to adequately realign the sun with the man-made calendar.

It was Julius Caesar who proclaimed the first day of the first month would be named Janus to honor the Roman god of all beginnings, agriculture, and the keeper of the gates of heaven and earth. Janus was a two-faced god -- not in the sense of hypocrisy -- but literally a god with two physical faces: one that anticipated the future, while the other reminisced the past.

To honor him, people exchanged gifts and reveled in the feasts the Romans were so noted for hosting. The Romans believed by acting wealthy, they would attract financial abundance in the New Year. Lawsuits and quarrels were suspended, and friendships were renewed during the festivities.

In 1583, the Gregorian calendar, introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, also named January 1 as the start of the new year. Roman Catholic countries soon adopted it; although, Great Britain and her colonies would not do so until 1752. Some early-day Puritans protested because of its association with the pagan god Janus. Some even went so far as to refuse to speak the name January, referring to it instead as First Month.

The excess that has so long accompanied New Year celebrations harkens to old beliefs that excessive revelry will not only attract abundance in the coming year, but will also keep away evil spirits. The silver and gold decorations of the New Year that replace the red and green of the Christmas season are believed to further ensure wealth finding you.

Many have long believed that whatever happens to you on the first day of the New Year is a glimpse of your fortunes to come the next 12 months. To invite good fortune and luck to their homes, people to this day create a menu of foods designed to bring good luck.

In Pennsylvania, the Dutch favor sauerkraut, while in the South, the preference is black-eyed peas flavored with ham hocks served with rice. Sometimes a dime is added to the black-eyed peas to increase the recipient's luck in the new year.

Ancient traditions have long labeled the pig as a symbol of good luck and abundance because the animal naturally roots for its food in a forward motion. On the other hand, all poultry, such as chickens, turkeys, or geese, should be avoided on New Year's Day because it could invite bad luck. All three scratch backwards for their food.

Our New Year's toasts to the future revive ancient traditions of friendship and hospitality. Passing the wassail cup, a tradition from England and Scotland, is the common custom from which our own practice of individual toasts has evolved. Wassail comes from the Anglo-Saxon words for "be whole" or "be well." It was drunk as a pledge of friendship much like our modern-day toasts to health, wealth, and happiness for family and friends.

Traditionally. Americans "watch the old year out and the new year in" with New Year's Eve parties and church services. As we count down the remaining seconds of the year to the poignant words of Auld Lang Syne, we cross the invisible threshold from memories of the past to hope and anticipation for the future.

In those moments, the past silently merges with the present, reminding us as some unknown wise man once said: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today, well, it is a gift. That's why we call it the present."

(c) 2005 Linda Allen, All rights reserved.

More Details about New Year's history and traditions here.

Writer, teacher, and trainer, Linda Allen is the author of more than 40 published magazine articles, essays, and books. Her second Christmas book, Menagerie at the Manger, was released in October 2005. Her book Decking the Halls - The Folklore of Christmas Plants was a finalist for the 2001 Benjamin Franklin Award for history.

The art of leadership consists in consolidating the attention of the people
against a single adversary
and taking care that nothing will split up that attention.
~ Adolf Hitler ~
Born April 20, 1889

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Last updated January 7th, 2006

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