The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. The whole range of celebration of the New Year’s Day basically stems from the various ways ancient societies used to greet the new harvest seasons. Symbolically, New Year signifies a renewal of life. Hence, the spirit of celebration for the regeneration, while discarding the old and worn out. The customs and practices, though modified through the centuries, have still their distinctive strains in the ways we welcome each onrushing year. “Happy New Year!” That greeting will be said and heard for at least the first couple of weeks as a new year gets under way.
New Year’s Eve falls on December 31st, the day before the first day of the calendar year. In Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and many other countries around the world, New Year’s Eve is a festive occasion marked by boisterous celebrations to welcome the new year.
New Year’s Day is the first day of the calendar year. People in almost every country celebrate this day as a holiday. The celebrations are both festive and serious. Many people make New Year’s resolutions to break bad habits or to start good ones. Some think about how they have lived during the past year and look forward to the next 12 months.
Many ancient peoples started the year at harvest time. They performed rituals to do away with the past and purify themselves for the new year. For example, some people put out the fires they were using and started new ones. Modern customs on New Year’s Day include visiting friends and relatives; giving gifts; attending religious services; and making noise with bells, guns, horns, and other devices.
Traditionally, it was thought that one could affect the luck they would have throughout the coming year by what they did or ate on the first day of the year. First footing is a very popular tradition. It is said that Lady Luck likes a handsome, tall, dark-haired man for escort to step inside the home or the macho man who rides his way to your doorstep in horseback. So, the first person to step inside your home after midnight should be either of the two mentioned above. Others including blondes, redheads and women have to wait until such a person crosses the threshold of your home. To make it easier, people often make such a person stand just outside the home for an hour before midnight (known as the witching hour) and just as the clock strikes twelve, the person puts his steps inside the home and be the first visitor. The visitor should have a present in hand too, preferably a silver or gold coin to denote wealth coming inside the home throughout the year. For that reason, it has become common for folks to celebrate the first few minutes of a brand new year in the company of family and friends. Parties often last into the middle of the night after the ringing in of a new year. It was once believed that the first visitor on New Year’s Day would bring either good luck or bad luck the rest of the year.
Traditional New Year foods are also thought to bring luck. Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck, because it symbolizes “coming full circle,” completing a year’s cycle. For that reason, the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year’s Day will bring good fortune. Many parts of the U.S. celebrate the new year by consuming black-eyed peas. People prepare dishes and put beans and black-eyed peas in it. In the New Year Feast, the person who gets them while dining is supposed to be the luckiest person at the table who will be the ward of Lady Luck and Lady Fortune throughout the year. These legumes are typically accompanied by either hog jowls or ham. Black-eyed peas and other legumes have been considered good luck in many cultures. The hog, and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity. Cabbage is another “good luck” vegetable that is consumed on New Year’s Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign of prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions, rice is a lucky food that is eaten on New Year’s Day.
The practice of visiting friends continued until the first years of this century. It was a gala time when everyone held open house and laid out enormous feasts for any one who should drop in, whether friend or stranger. To neglect this annual visit was a terrible sight, and the roads were thronged with carriages bearing the holiday-makers. Unfortunately in time the custom was abused; the distinction between privacy and sociability was ignored and troops of unwanted guests descended on the open houses, using them as eating and drinking stations. People began to send invitations to special guests for their own protection, and the old custom fell irretrievably into decline.
It is a custom to open all doors and windows before midnight so that old year can stealthily move away giving room to new year. It is also a custom to carry gold and silver coins in your hand while visiting your relative to mark the incoming wealth and fortune all round the year.
It is also a New Year custom to sing songs on this day. It is believed that noises and merry making scare away evil spirits and darkness. Hence, a very old song, Auld Lang Syne is sung in every country on New Year’s Eve.
At the stroke of midnight hour, kiss your spouse or life partner to ensure that romance will favor your relations for next twelve months. The failure to observe this practice means the year may be full of icy stares and cold feelings.