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TimeLines of Liberty
American Holidays |
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New Year's Day -
TimeLine
Observed on January 1st with
celebrations beginning on New Years Eve, December 31st.
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New Years Day has been celebrated on
different days in various cultures. Some cultures had used a
different calendar placing the beginning of the new year in
different seasons. Some calendars are based upon either the
moon's position or the sun's position with others based upon
both positions of the sun and moon. Cultures around the world
and through history have various beliefs and traditions about
the New Year. Today the New Year begins on January 1st.
New Year TimeLine
- New
Year Traditions |
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2000 BC |
New Moon |
New Years Day is one of the
world's oldest holidays. The ancient Babylonians celebrated the
first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox 4000 years ago. |
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700 BC |
Jan. |
Numa Pontilius,
the second king of Rome, added January and February to the
calendar about 700 B.C. January was not widely used, March 1st
continued to be celebrated as New Years Day. |
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153 BC |
Jan. |
In 153 B.C. the
newly elected Roman consuls moved the new year from March to
January because it was the beginning of the civil year. The
people continued to celebrate on March 1st. |
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45 BC |
Jan. |
Roman Emperor,
Julius Ceasar established January 1st as New Year's Day in 46
B.C. when constructing the Julian calendar that was based upon
the solar cycle. Janus, the Roman god of doors and gates had two
faces with one looking back and one looking forward. Ceasar used
January for the first month, named after the god Janus as the
door to the New Year. Ceasar celebrated each New Year by
ordering the bloodshed of Jewish revolutionaries in Galilee.
Roman pagans would celebrate with rituals of drunken orgies to
dipict the chaos that existed before the gods ordered the
cosmos. |
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50+-AD |
Jan. |
Christians
began to incorporate pagan holidays puting a Christian slant
onto them as a means of bringing in the heathen. |
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325 CE |
Dec. |
Sylvester is
the Israeli term for New Year's night celebrations. Sylvester
was the Roman Pope who convinced Constantine to ban Jews from
Jerusalem. December 31 is Saint Sylvester Day attaching his name
to New Year eve celebrations. |
404
AD |
* |
The last
Gladiator competition was held in Rome on January 1st, 404. |
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567 AD |
Mar. 25 |
The Council of
Tours believing New Years celebrations to be pagan and
un-Christian abolished January 1st as the beginning of the year. |
630
AD |
* |
Muhammad sets
out for Mecca on January 1st, 630 to capture it in a bloodbath. |
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700 AD |
Mar. 25 |
By the middle
of the medival period most of Christian Europe had began to
celebrate the new Year on March 25; Annunciation Day
commemorating the announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel that
she would bear a son and call him Jesus. |
990
AD |
Jan. |
Russia adopts
the Julian calendar in 990. |
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1066 |
Dec. Jan. |
William the Conqueror was coronated King of
England on December 25th, 1066. William decreed the returning of
the New Year to that of the Roman Pagans, January 1st. His
motive was to align Jesus' Birthday with his coronation.
William's change was eventually rejected with a returning of New
Years Day to March 25th. |
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1502 |
* |
Rio de Janeiro
is discovered by Portuguese navigators on January 1st, 1502. |
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1582 |
Oct. |
In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII abandoned the
Julian calendar to develope the Gregorian calandar. The change
became effective the day after October 4th, 1582 jumping ten
days to be October 15th, 1582. The New Year is again January
1st. The Gregorian Calendar was adopted by catholic almost
immediately. |
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1583 |
Jan. |
Holland and
Flanders begin to use the Gregorian Calendar on January 1st,
1583. |
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1600 |
Jan. |
Scotland having adopted the Gregorian
Galendar begins it's numbered year on January 1st rather than
March 25th. |
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1622 |
Jan. |
The Papal Chancery adopts January 1st as
the beginning of the year. |
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1673 |
* |
Regular postal service begins on January
1st between Boston and New York. |
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1700 |
Jan. |
The Byzantine is replaced with the Julian
calendar in Russia in 1700. |
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1700 |
Jan. |
Germany adoped the Gregorian Calendar in
1700. Russia begins to use the Anno Domini era abandoning the
Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire. |
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1752 |
Jan. |
Great Britain adoped the Gregorian Calendar
in 1752 and began celebrating New Years Day on January 1st
rather then March 25th. |
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1753 |
Jan. |
Sweden adoped the Gregorian Calendar in
1753. |
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1776 |
* |
General
George Washington raises the Continental Union Flag on
January 1st, 1776. |
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1788 |
* |
Pennsylvania
Quakers emancipate their slaves on January 1st, 1788. |
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1797 |
* |
Albany becomes the capital of
New York State on January 1st,
1797. |
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1808 |
* |
The importation of slaves is abolished by
Congress on January 1st, 1808. |
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1818 |
* |
James Monroe held a reception at the
official opening of the rebuilt Whitehouse on January 1, 1818. |
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1853 |
* |
A horse-drawn fire engine is placed into
service on January 1st, 1853. It is the first of a practical
design to be used in the U.S. |
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1861 |
* |
President Lincoln declares the abolishment of slavery in the
Confederate states on Januar 1st, 1861. |
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1863 |
* |
Under the Homestead act the first homestead
is claimed on January 1st, 1863 near Beatrice,
Nebraska. |
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1863 |
* |
President Lincoln's Proclamation of Emancipation was
delivered on January 1st, 1863. |
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1893 |
Jan. |
Japan adoped the Gregorian Calendar in
1893. |
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1901 |
* |
Australia declares independence on January
1st, 1901. Australia had been a part of the federation of United
Kingdom colonies. |
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1902 |
*
Jan. |
In Pasadena,
California the first Rose Bowl game is played on January 1st
1902. The game was played between the University of
Michigan winning with 49
points and Sanford with zero points.
This was to become the beginning of football as an American New
Years Day tradition. |
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1907 |
* |
President Theodore Roosevelt sets a record, shaking 8,513
hands in one day on January 1st, 1907. |
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1912 |
Jan. |
China adoped the Gregorian Calendar in
1912. |
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1918 |
Jan. |
Russia adopted the Gregorian Calendar in
1918. |
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1918 |
Jan. |
January 1st, 1918 was the last day of the
Julian calendar in Finland. |
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1923 |
* |
The U.S.S.R. (Union of Socialist Soviet
Republics) was established on January 1st, 1923. |
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1924 |
Jan. |
Eastern Orthodox countries began to adopt
the Gregorian Calendar in 1924. |
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1924 |
Jan. |
After having tried out its own calendar,
Russia returned to the Gregorian Calendar in 1924. |
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1924 |
* |
The whitehouse had expected 7,500 gues for
the 1924 New Year's celebration. |
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1927 |
Jan. |
The remaining Eastern Orthodox countries
adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1927. |
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1927 |
Jan. |
The Gregorian calendar is adopted by Turkey
with January 1st of the Gregorian calendar following December
18th, 1926 of the Julian calendar. |
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1935 |
* |
On January 1st, 1935 the first Sugar Bowl
and first Orange Bowl are played. |
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1942 |
* |
The Rose Bowl is played in
North Carolina for fear of a
Japanese attack. Oregon wins with 20 points beating Duke with
16. |
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1942 |
* |
The Allies consisting of the U.S. and 25
other nations sign a joint declaration against the Axis powers
on January 1st, 1942. |
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1954 |
* |
On January 1st, 1954 the first sport
colorcasts are the Rose and Cotton Bowls. |
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1956 |
* |
On January 1st, 1956 Elvis Presley records
'Heartbreak Hotel' in Nashville,
Tennesee for RCA. |
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1956 |
* |
Paniced stampedes at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko,
central Niigata, Japan kills over 124 people at a new year event
in 1956. |
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1957 |
18 mo. |
The 18 month International Geophysical Year
begins on January 1st, 1957 ending June 30th, 1958. |
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1960 |
* |
On January 1st, 1960, Johnny Cash performs
the first of several free concerts within prison walls. |
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1970 |
Jan. |
The Western (RC) Church begins using a
revised calendar on January 1st, 1970. |
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1977 |
* |
In 1977 at the Sugar Bowl Tony Dorsett ran
a record 202 yards. |
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1992 |
* |
1992 is the International Space year
beginning on January 1st. |
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1994 |
* |
1994 is the International Year of Family. |
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1995 |
* |
1995 is the International Year of Tolerance |
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1999 |
* |
January 1st, 1999 begins the International
Year of the Elderly. |
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© Copyright 2010
Roger W Hancock www.PoetPatriot.com |
New Year Traditions
Symbols
A symbol to
represent the breaking between the old and the new was the Roman
god Janus who had two faces looking both back and forward. A
Baby was paraded in a basket by the Greeks as the spirit of
fertility. Christians converted the pagan use of the baby to
depict the Baby Jesus and new life. Today a newborn baby depicts
the new year and an old man to show the passing of the old.
Resolutions
Much of the world has a
tradition to make a New Years Resolution. The individual
resolves to change a part of their life. Losing weight, quit
smoking, reduce alcohol consumption, financial thriftiness or
reduction of some other vice are the most popular resolutions
people make today. The making of New Year resolutions date back
to Babylonian times.
Luck
Going back hundreds of
years, luck during the coming year was determined by what one
ate on New Years Day. New Year Foods were thought to bring good
luck for the coming year. Some cultures believed that foods in
the shape of a ring is good luck symbolizing, "coming full
circle." People would gather during the first few moments of the
New Year in the company of family and friends. The person who
finds a coin in their black-eyed peas would be prosperous during
the New Year. Luck shows in other cultures as well; read on...
America Today
In America today, New
Years Day is celebrated in various ways. Families gather or
maintain a continued gathering begining with the Christmas
celebration. New Year Eve Parties are held in homes among family
and friends to hail in the New Year. Bars and lounges organize
New Years Eve parties to capitalize on the New Years
celebrations where many begin the first new year morning with a
hang-over. The viewing of Football games are a tradition in many
American families, or at least among the men. The largest public
gatherings around the nation and locally are broadcast on
television. Fireworks has spread from the Chinese communities to
become an American New Year's tradition.
Jewish
The Jewish New Year,
Rosh Hashanah, is a holy celebration. The Jewish people reflect
on past wrongs determining to do better in the new year. An
instrument made from a ram's horn, called a Shofar, is played at
the Jewish religious services that are held in synagogues. New
Year loaves of bread are baked and fruit is served to remind of
harvest time. The children receive new clothes.
Chinese
In China the New Year
beginning falls between January 17th and February 19th, at the
new moon. The Chinese New Year is called Yuan Tan and is
celebrated by Chinese all over the world. Chinese communities
whether in China or any other country hold lively celebrations.
During the Festival of Lanterns, thousands of lanterns are lit
to light the way into the New Year. Street parades with long
dancing dragons is a long time Chinese tradition. Fire crackers
crackle and pop to scare away the evil spirits that lurk around
the time of the new year. In Chinese homes the evil spirits are
kept away by sealing doors and windows with paper.
Japan
As a symbol of luck and
happiness the Japanese decorate their homes with garland. The
Japanese believe that loud laughter brings good luck.
France
Evil spirits are chased
away in France by making noise on New Year's Eve night. The
first person entering the home on New Year's Day determines the
kind of year the household will have.
Poland
In Poland doughnuts and
bread are baked in hopes prosperity is found during the New
Year.
Philippines
In the Philippines
prosperity is yours if you wear polka-dot clothing or have your
table filled with fruits of various colors, and decorated with
round ornaments. Children jump 10 times at midnight on New
Year's Eve in the belief they will grow tall.
Puerto Rico
In Puerto Rico you
scatter sugar through the house and yard to ensure good luck in
the New Year. Buckets of water are tossed into the street to
ward away negativity and welcoming the prosperity and success in
the New Year.
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© Copyright 2010
Roger W Hancock www.PoetPatriot.com |
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Sources
http://new-years-day.com/new-years-history.htm -
http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/newyearshistory/
http://www.theholidayspot.com/newyear/history.htm -
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100101/lead/lead3.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=tfIEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA213&sig=v5-ZJelsDwUi64DMR0jb1qqldGU&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/...WHITE+HOUSE+WILL+HAVE+7%2C500+GUESTS+ON+NEW+YEAR'S+DAY&pqatl=google
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/newyearhistory.html -
http://www.historyorb.com/day/january/1 -
http://www.historyorb.com/day/january/1?p=2
http://books.google.com/books?id=oGRVnzr4jNIC&pg=PA47&sig=hnYU_07ljKhVFs8Dso0ajGPtTbE&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
http://www.historyorb.com/day/january/1?p=3 -
http://www.historyorb.com/day/january/1?p=5 - |
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