New Year’s oddities

DURING the Middle Ages in Western Europe, authorities moved New Year’s Day, depending on locale, to one of several other days, including March 1, March 25, Easter, September 1, and December 25. Since then, many national civil calendars in the Western World and beyond have changed to using one fixed date for New Year’s Day, January 1 — mostly doing so when they adopted the Gregorian calendar. (Wikipedia)

Some cultures also observe New Year’s Day according to their traditions and their calendars that are movable — Chinese New Year, Islamic New Year, Tamil New Year (Puthandu) and Jewish New Year.

Also, because the globe is divided into different time zones, the New Year actually moves progressively as the start of the day ushers in the New Year. The first to actually celebrate the New Year, a few minutes or several hours ahead of other countries, is Kiribati, while on American Samoa, it is still 11 p.m. on December 30.

Following are some fun facts from Today’s Life, Home, Good Housekeeping and History about the celebration of the New Year in the different countries.

Early beginnings

1. The Babylonians celebrated New Year in 2000 BC. Following the vernal equinox in March, the Babylonians of ancient Mesopotamia honored the rebirth of the natural world with a 12-day festival called Akitu, when they would make resolutions to their gods.

2. Julius Caesar designated January 1 as New Year’s Day 4,000 years ago. Julius Caesar first declared January 1 a national holiday in the entire Roman empire. He named the month after Janus, the Roman god of doors and gates, who had two faces — one looking forward and one looking back.

3. Ancient Egyptians celebrate New Year with the Wepet Renpet festival. The Egyptian New Year is celebrated with the re-appearance of Sirius after the brightest star’s 70-day disappearance from the night sky. This heliacal rising typically occurs in mid-July, just before the Nile River gets inundated and irrigates the farmlands.

4. Shang Dynasty originated Lunar New Year celebrations. The Chinese New Year celebration originated 3,000 years ago as a new beginning of the spring planting season. Later, it became entangled with the myth of a creature that preyed on villages every New Year. To frighten off the beast, villagers decorated their houses and made loud noises.

5. Iran’s Nowruz is a 6thcentury BC celebration of the Persian New Year. This 13-day spring festival occurs around the vernal equinox in March in ancient Iran as a Zoroastrian religious festivity. From the time of the Achaemenid Empire up to Iran’s conquest by Alexander the Great in 333 BC to the rise of Islamic rule in the 7th century AD, Nowruz persisted as an important national holiday in Iran.

New Year symbols

If Christmas has Santa Claus, Christmas trees and carols, New Year also has its own symbols.

6. New Year baby. Since 600 BC in Ancient Greece, people have celebrated their first babies of the year. Back then, the first baby born in the New Year was paraded around in a basket to celebrate Dionysus, the god of fertility.

7. New Year’s Resolutions. Nearly half of Americans make New Year resolutions. Twothirds set financial goals. Half of the resolutions involve exercise and weight loss. However, on average, Americans keep their resolutions for just 36 days. Eighty percent of resolutions made on New Year’s Day are usually forgotten by February.

8. The party. Americans drink roughly 360 million glasses of sparkling wine during New Year’s Eve, starting in the 17th century when the cork was invented. In Philadelphia, 10,000 people parade in unique costumes with elements from Irish, German, English, Swedish, and other European heritages. In Brazil, locals jump over the waves seven times to honor the Sea Goddess. In Canada, they take a super-cold swim.

9. The Times Square Ball Drop. About a million people gather in New York City’s Times Square to watch the ball drop. The first ball with 100 25-watt lights in 1907 weighed 700 pounds. Today, the Waterford ball is covered in 2,688 crystals, is lit by 32,000 LED lights, weighs 11,875 pounds, and is 12 feet in diameter. After the event, 50 tons of trash, including 3,000 pounds of confetti, are left to be cleaned up.

10. Auld Lang Syne. Robert Burns is credited with the song Auld Lang Syne but didn’t fully write it. He took a Scottish folk song called “Old Long Syne” and put his spin on it in 1788. Auld Lang Syne means “times long past.”

Filipino New Year

Following are unique Filipino New Year traditions:

11. The Media Noche. Filipino families gather at midnight for a feast called “media noche” to savor special meals, including a platter of 12 round fruits. The 12 fruits represent the 12 months, and the circular shape symbolizes money and coins.

12. Something Sticky. It is believed that in order to improve family relations and bonding, there must be sticky rice cakes on the New Year menu, such as biko, suman, kalamay, puto bumbong, puto Calasiao, tikoy, or bibingka.

13. Noodles for Long Life. Noodles were introduced to the Filipinos by Chinese traders in the olden times. To most Filipinos, the long noodles or pasta in the pancit canton, pancit bihon, sotanghon, lomi, or Pinoy spaghetti symbolize long life — an idea that originated in China.

14. Lechon for prosperity. Pigs are plump creatures that symbolize prosperity, with noses pointing forward to indicate progress. Part of the New Year menu for Filipinos is the ember-roasted whole pig, called lechon. If there are budgetary constraints, families just roast the head or the belly — crisp on the outside and succulent inside.

15. Keep the cupboards full. Filipino families have a tradition to assure them that they will avoid hunger. On New Year’s Eve, all containers of rice, salt, sugar, water, and condiments are filled to the brim. The cupboards are also filled with groceries and other items to ensure more family blessings during the coming year.

These are some uniqueness or oddities in celebrating the New Year. They differ from one culture to another. Many of today’s traditions differ from original intentions or practices. Over time, they form part of culture.

The New Year’s kiss started with the Romans during their Saturnalia festival. With the pandemic, many people around the globe simply prefer the “fist bump” to the kiss.

The first Times Square New Year’s party was for the purpose of celebrating the opening of the New York Times building in 1904, where 200,000 people attended. Sources say that the parties continued, but there wasn’t a ball drop until 1907.

Different cultures celebrate the New Year for what it is — a new beginning filled with hope for a better tomorrow in terms of love, peace and prosperity.

Ernie Cecilia is the chairman of the Human Capital Committee and the Publication Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham); chairman of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines’ (ECOP’s) TWG on Labor and Social Policy Issues; and past president of the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP). He can be reached at erniececilia@gmail.com