The New Year Tradition

New Year’s is one of the oldest holidays still celebrated, but the exact date and nature of the festivities has changed over time. It originated thousands of years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, celebrated as an eleven day festival on the first day of spring. During that time, many cultures used the sun and moon cycles to decide the “first” day of the year.

In the lunar calendars of ancient Mesopotamia the year started with the festival of Akitu (Sumerian for "barley"), which was celebrated in March-April. It can be assumed that a similar approach was adopted also during the Hittites era.

The later Roman New Year originally corresponded with the vernal equinox (March), but years of tampering with the solar calendar eventually saw the holiday established on its more familiar early January date. For the Romans, the month of January carried a special significance. Its name was derived from the two-faced deity Janus, the God of change and beginnings. Janus was seen as symbolically looking back at the old and ahead to the new, and this idea became tied to the concept of transition from one year to the next.

It wasn’t until Julius Caesar implemented the Julian calendar that January 1st became the common day for the celebration. The content of the festivities has varied as well. While early celebrations were more Paganistic in nature, celebrating Earth’s cycles, Christian tradition celebrated the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on New Year’s Day.

The circumcision of Christ is an event from the life of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke - chapter 2, which states in verse 21 that Jesus was circumcised eight days after his birth (traditionally January 1). This is in keeping with the Jewish law which holds that males should be circumcised eight days after birth during a Brit milah ceremony, at which they are also given their name.

The circumcision of Christ became a very common subject in Christian art from the 10th century onward, one of numerous events in the life of Christ to be frequently depicted by artists. It was initially seen only as a scene in larger cycles, but by the Renaissance might be treated as an individual subject for a painting, or form the main subject in an altarpiece.

The event is also celebrated as the 'Feast of the Circumcision' in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and by many Anglicans.

It has however, been celebrated by Roman Catholics as the 'Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus', in recent years on January 3 as an Optional Memorial, though it was for long celebrated on January 1, as some other churches still do.

By the twentieth century, the holiday grew into its own celebration and mostly separated from the common association with religion. It has become a holiday associated with nationality, relationships, and introspection rather than a religious celebration, although many people do still follow older traditions. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner and the 1st day of January which is often marked as a national holiday.

In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system today, New Year occurs on January 1 (New Year's Day). This was also the first day of the year in the original Julian calendar and of the Roman calendar (after 153 BC).

During the Middle Ages in western Europe, while the Julian calendar was still in use, authorities moved New Year's Day, depending upon locale, to one of several other days, including March 1, March 25, Easter, September 1, and December 25. Beginning in 1582, the adoptions of the Gregorian calendar has meant that many national or local dates in the Western World and beyond have changed to using one fixed date for New Year's Day, January 1.

Other cultures observe their traditional or religious New Years Day according to their own customs. Chinese Lunar New Year, the Islamic Hijri New Year, the traditional “Shōgatsu” Japanese New Year and the “Rosh Hashanah” Jewish New Year are the more well-known examples. India and other countries continue to celebrate New Year on different dates.

That said, for your information, 2020 is a leap year!

That’s right, every four years certain conditions apply:

• The year can be evenly divided by 4;
• If the year can be evenly divided by 100, it is not a leap year, unless;
• The year is also evenly divisible by 400. Then it is a leap year;
• That means, with 366 days in the year, there is one extra day during the spring 2020 Semester!
• February 29 is a Saturday, so you can take the day off, without losing a day!

As you may not be aware, Zoroastrians, who began their calendar in 389 B.C. with the birth of their founder, Prophet Zoroaster, use a calendar of 365 days, which, consists of twelve 30-day months with five "gatha days" added at the end of the year.

Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna is one of the world's oldest continuously practiced religions. It is a multi-tendency faith centered on a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate conquest of evil with theological elements of henotheism, monotheism/monism, and polytheism.

Zoroastrianism is a Persian religion promulgated in the Avesta, and characterized by worship of a supreme God Ahura Mazda who requires good deeds for help in his cosmic struggle against the Evil spirit Ahriman.

Zoroastrianism contains both monotheistic and dualistic features. It likely influenced the other major western religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Zoroastrianism was the state religion of three Persian dynasties, until the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century A.D. Zoroastrian refugees, called Parsis, escaped Muslim persecution in Iran by migrating to India…

Food for thought for a Happy New Year!