New Year’s. In our modern United States culture, it is a night and day of partying, staying up to late, watching football, eating too much food, drinking too much booze and making resolutions we won’t keep past February, including resolving to lose the 20 pounds we put on between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day as quickly as possible.
It’s an older holiday than many people might think, with the first celebrations for a new year dating back 4000 years to ancient Mesopotamia. It wasn’t in January back then, but coincided with the Vernal Equinox, which is generally in mid-March. This makes a lot of sense to me, as the beginning of Spring is a much better place to start a new year than the middle of winter, at least here in the northern hemisphere. The Roman Empire, which managed much of the “known” world for a very long time, moved the start of the new year to its current location on January 1st in about 153 B.C., and it more or less remained there for the rest of history. The Gregorian calendar sanctified this spot in 1582, although quirkily enough many Protestant countries didn’t (including the British Empire and their American Colonies) adopt it until 1752, still celebrating New Years in March until then.
Of course, most of us don’t care much about the day’s history, we just want to plan how they will enjoy the night THIS year. For us, in years when we are not travelling for family visits, New Year’s is typically spent quietly, watching a movie or two, having some popcorn and maybe a glass or two of wine. Nothing big.
That doesn’t change the fact that, for me personally, it is the single most important holiday of the year.
It is a night for remembering all that the year has thrown at you, all it has given you, and all that it has tried to teach you.
2016 has been for some months now regarded as one of the worst in recent memory. The countless stars, icons and legends that passed away, some far too young and unexpectedly. The U.S. Presidential Election that was basically insanity personified, with ramifications that many are too scared to even think about. A world geopolitical situation where the old ways are giving out, nationalistic fervor and fear are gaining the upper hand. Pointless wars wage in far corners of the world. The climate is starting to spiral out of control, animal and plant species are in full blown mass extinction mode. Perhaps it has been bad, the worst, even, for many of us. At times I too have been part of the #Fuck2016 movement.
But not all bad.
New career, two of them, actually. 20 years of marriage and counting with the most stunning and strong woman I have ever known. Two incredible daughters who are brilliant, talented, beautiful and of strong opinions to the point of stubbornness, which is not a bad thing. A newly strengthened interest in photography, astronomy, climate science, space studies and politics that is pushing me to either engage in a new educational degree or the political process itself. Travel. Experiencing new things. Meeting new people.
It wasn’t all bad, and I learned many of the lessons that 2016 might have been trying to teach. Might have missed a few, but probably picked up on most.
If you watched, read and paid attention to the world around you in 2016, you might have started to get a good idea of where things are headed in 2017. And maybe plan for your part in it. Not those resolutions which most people give up by week three. No, the real deep, personal commitments that you should make every year, month week and day to making the world and your life a better place.
Applying for that school. Taking a class for free online. Reading more. Writing more. Shooting (photos) more. Spending more quality time – travel, creative and artistic endeavors, simply talking – with your loved ones. Pushing harder at work and at home to better yourself. And yes, losing that twenty pounds has a place in the mix.
New Year’s is the most important holiday of the year. Not just for football and beer, and watching a disco ball twirling down a big giant pole. But for reflection, planning and commitment.
For celebrating the hope that is the next 365 days to come.
Happy New Year’s, everyone.