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How was the New Year holiday born 4 thousand years ago?
2023-12-31 14:38:38 / MISTERE&KURIOZITETE
Civilizations around the world have celebrated the beginning of each new year for at least four millennia.
Today, most New Year's celebrations begin on December 31 (New Year's Eve), the last day of the Gregorian calendar, and continue until the early hours of January 1 (New Year's Day). Common traditions include attending parties, eating special New Year's foods, making new year's resolutions, and fireworks displays.
Ancient New Year Celebrations The earliest recorded New Year celebrations date back to about 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon. For the Babylonians, the first new moon after the vernal equinox, the day in late March with an equal amount of sunlight and darkness, heralded the start of a new year. They marked the occasion with a massive religious festival called Akitu (derived from the Sumerian word for barley, which was harvested in spring) that included a different ritual on each of its 11 days.
In addition to the new year, Atiku celebrated the mythical victory of the Babylonian sky god Marduk over the evil sea goddess Tiamat and served an important political purpose. It was during this time that a new king was crowned or the divine mandate of the current ruler was symbolically renewed.
Did you know? To readjust the Roman calendar to the sun, Julius Caesar had to add an extra 90 days in 46 BC when he introduced his new Julian calendar.
Throughout antiquity, civilizations around the world developed increasingly sophisticated calendars, usually tying the first day of the year to an agricultural or astronomical event. In Egypt, for example, the year began with the annual flooding of the Nile, which coincided with the birth of the star Sirius. The first day of the Lunar New Year, meanwhile, occurred with the second new moon after the winter solstice.
January 1 becomes New Year's Day
The early Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and 304 days, with each new year beginning at the vernal equinox. According to tradition, it was created by Romulus, the founder of Rome, in the eighth century BC A later king, Numa Pompilius, is credited with adding the months Januarius and February.
Over the centuries, the calendar fell out of sync with the sun, and in 46 BC Julius Caesar decided to solve the problem by consulting the leading astronomers and mathematicians of his time. He introduced the Julian calendar, which is very similar to the more modern Gregorian calendar that most countries in the world use today.
As part of his reform, Caesar established January 1 as the first day of the year, in part to honor the month's patron: Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future. the future. The Romans celebrated by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with each other, decorating their homes with laurel branches, and attending raucous parties.
In medieval Europe, Christian leaders temporarily replaced January 1 as the first of the year with days of greater religious significance, such as December 25 (the anniversary of Jesus' birth) and March 25 (the feast of the Annunciation); Pope Gregory XIII reinstated January 1 as New Year's Day in 1582.
New Year's Traditions and Celebrations Around the World
In many countries, New Year's celebrations begin on the evening of December 31, New Year's Eve, and continue until the early hours of January 1. People often enjoy meals and snacks that are thought to bring good luck for the coming year. In Spain and some other Spanish-speaking countries, people drop a dozen grapes, symbolizing their hopes for the coming months, just before midnight.
In many parts of the world, traditional New Year's dishes contain legumes, which are thought to resemble coins and herald future financial success. Examples include lentils in Italy and peas in the southern United States. Because pigs represent progress and prosperity in some cultures, pork appears on the New Year's table in Cuba, Austria, Hungary, Portugal and other countries. Ring-shaped cakes and pastries, a sign that the year has come full circle, round out the holiday in the Netherlands, Mexico, Greece and elsewhere. In Sweden and Norway, meanwhile, rice pudding with an almond hidden inside is served on New Year's Eve. It is said that whoever finds the almond can expect 12 months of good luck. Other customs around the world include fireworks and singing songs to welcome the new year, including the increasingly popular "Auld Lang Syne" in many English-speaking countries. The practice of making new year's resolutions is thought to have first spread among the ancient Babylonians, who made vows to win the favor of the gods and start the year off on the right foot. (They would reportedly pledge to pay debts and return borrowed farm equipment.)
In the United States, the most iconic New Year's tradition is the tossing of a giant ball in New York's Times Square at midnight. Millions of people around the world watch the event, which has taken place almost every year since 1907.
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