Happy New Year!
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We
have come to the end of another year.
A
year of turmoil and strife around the world; political and social division here
at home; a culture war for dominance in our beliefs and value systems; economic
highs and lows; looming shortages and escalating prices of energy; widespread starvation; deprivation and
abundance; expressions of great love and kindness juxtaposed against acts of
unspeakable cruelty and violence -- all mixed with the warp speed growth of
technology in a world that is already dizzy from the accelerating march of
civilization to we know not where.
And,
to cap it off, we all grow another year older as we move on.
The
New Year is also a time for celebration.
I’ve never quite understood that.
Watching people party on New Year’s Eve as if there’s no tomorrow has
always puzzled me.
For
one thing, I’ve never really been able to figure out what people get out of
such self-abuse. They obviously think it’s fun. I think it’s anything but fun. I guess that makes me “square,” but closing
out one year and moving into the next has usually given me pause to reflect and
think about the mistakes I have made and how I might do better in the future.
Glenn
Beck recently put the year-end holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year)
in perspective when he observed, “Over time, we’ve mangled these holidays into
unrecognizable displays of gluttony and greed … January 1st offers the promise
of a new start and a new calendar year, but it’s become an excuse to party and
drink so much that you wake up not even knowing what day it is.” (Glenn Beck
email newsletter, Dec. 20, 2007)
He
sees the holidays as a three-step process: “Step One (Thanksgiving) is
gratitude … Step Two (Christmas) is redemption … Step Three (New Year) is hope.
The New Year gives us a clean slate, made possible because we’ve already
humbled ourselves, given thanks, and found redemption. … None of these holidays
started out as anything extravagant,” he adds, further noting, “Thanksgiving was just a proclamation,
Christmas began in a stable, and the New Year has always just been a day on the
calendar.
But
their magic is in what they represent and in the opportunities they give us.”
So,
what is the New Year celebration really about?
Is it nothing more than a recognition of the
fact that we have survived another year and are getting a fresh start?
Perhaps,
but the origins of this oldest of all holidays actually date back about 4,000
years to ancient Babylon, when the most popular resolution of the time was to
return any farm equipment they had borrowed.
Glenn
Beck may be right that New Year’s Day is about hope. Recorded history confirms
that for thousands of years, people have used it as a reason to whoop it up and
celebrate the beginning of a new cycle in their lives. But, it wasn’t always on Jan. 1.
“In
the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon
(actually the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of
spring) … The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year.
After
all, it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of blossoming.
Jan. 1, on the other hand, has neither astronomical nor agricultural
significance. It is purely arbitrary. The Babylonian New Year celebration
lasted for eleven days.
Each
day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that
modern New Year’s Eve festivities pale by comparison. Jan. 1 has been
celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.”
(newyears.com, “History of New Years,” by Jerry Wilson)
For
some people, celebrating the start of the New Year is a statement of gratitude
(or relief) – that they’ve made it through another year and have a chance to
start over and do better, hopefully to get it right in the next year, whatever
that may mean to each individual.
So,
let’s party, shuck our baggage from the past and move ahead to a more
successful and prosperous time.
If
that’s what people are celebrating on New Year’s Eve, I can buy that. But,
unfortunately, that’s not what I see. What I see is a round of gigantic parties
going on around the globe, generally to excess and seemingly without reason,
and I wonder why that money can’t be put to some better use? But, that’s just
my opinion.
Whatever
your own view of New Year celebrations may be, I wish you a happy and
prosperous New Year.
© 2007 Harris R. Sherline
All Rights Reserved