New Year Eve
New Year Eve for 2023 will be celebrated on 31st December, Saturday.
New Year’s Eve is observed on 31st December every year when people celebrated the arrival of New Year by holding gatherings and parties. Most countries in the world use the Gregorian calendar system where 31st December is the last day of the year. The evening of the last day is known as New Year’s Eve.
New Year’s Eve is celebrated with evening parties, where people dance, drink, eat, and enjoy fireworks. The celebration usually goes on past midnight into New Year’s Day, 1st January. We celebrate the arrival of the new year at the stroke of midnight on December 31 and say goodbye to the year gone by and new hopes for the year to come.
History
The month of January is named after god Janus who is depicted as having two faces. He is the God of beginnings and passages. Since movement and change are interconnected, he has a double nature, symbolized in his two-headed image. One face is looking forward to the future while the other face is looking to the past.
The earlier Roman calendar has only ten months and there was no January and February. New Year started on 1 March. Even when January month was added the New Year for Romans was 1 March and it remained so in England and her colonies until about 200 years ago.
From 46 B.C. on, the new year began in January. Our modern New Year’s Day celebration stems from the ancient two-faced Roman god Janus, after whom the month of January is also named. One face of Janus looked back into the past, and the other peered forward to the future.
New Year falls on 1st January for people following the Gregorian calendar, but it is not for all as some countries have their new year on other dates of the year and with different traditions. In the past, some New Year’s celebrations took place at Equinox, a day when the sun is above Earth’s equator and night and day are equal in length.
In many cultures, the March or vernal equinox marks a time of transition and new beginnings, and so cultural celebrations of a new year were natural for that equinox. The Greeks celebrated the new year on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. The September or autumnal equinox also had its proponents for the beginning of a new year.
Celebration
New Year’s Eve is one of the world’s most celebrated holidays, whether you’re a kid excited to stay up all night or an adult just trying to make it to midnight after a long day of work — or day drinking. New Year’s is often marked by fireworks, parades, and reflection upon the last year while looking ahead to a New Year of future possibilities.
Many Cultures celebrate in their own unique way. Typically, the customs and traditions involve celebrating with champagne and a variety of different foods. New Year marks a date of happiness and a clean slate. For many celebrating New Year’s Day, it is their opportunity to learn from the prior year and make positive changes in their life beginning on the 1st day of the year.
Every year as the clock nears midnight on December 31, the eyes of the world turn once more to the dazzling lights and bustling energy of Times Square, New York. The first New Year’s Eve celebration in what is now Times Square was in 1904. As the famous New Year’s Eve Ball descends atop One Times Square, countless people watch Times Square, nationwide, and throughout the world.
Traditions
While celebrating New Year varies all over the world, common traditions include:
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Making resolutions or goals to improve one’s life.
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Common resolutions concern diet, exercise, bad habits, and other issues concerning personal wellness. A common view is to use the first day of the new year as a clean slate.
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A gathering of loved ones. Where you’ll typically find champagne, feasting, confetti, noise makers, and other methods of merriment
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Fireworks, parades, and concerts.
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Famous parades include London’s New Year’s Day Parade and the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
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Superstitions concerning food or visitors to bring luck.
New Year’s Eve is full of traditions, allowing us to follow those we like and to ignore those we don’t. Still, it’s hard to ignore that the ending of a year is usually a bittersweet moment. A new year is simply the perfect time to make resolutions and make for a fun-filled day. Take in the coming year with open arms. Have a blast!
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