Angie Mohr
In almost every culture on the planet, the beginning of a new year is a time for celebration, of summing up the prior year and of looking forward to the upcoming one. Not every culture celebrates New Year's on the same day, but there are many similarities in customs.
In the American deep South, for example, New Year's Day means collard greens and black-eyed peas. Both represent money flowing into the household in the new year; the greens are paper money and the peas are coins.
The first known New Year's Day observance was around 4000 BC. The Babylonians celebrated around the vernal equinox, what we now consider to be the first day of spring. In fact, most civilizations considered the start of spring to be the start of the new year as it was a time of planting, growing, and rebirth. The Babylonian celebration lasted eleven days, with different events and traditions on each of the days.
Traditional British New Year's beliefs include the "First Footing" ritual. The first person to enter the house on New Year's Day sets the tone for the entire year. According to tradition, the first footer should be a tall, dark-haired man and ideally should be bearing small gifts such as salt, coal, or meat, to ensure plenty in the coming year. If the first footer is blond, red-haired, or a woman, bad luck will prevail. Another traditional New Year's rule is that no laundry should be done on New Year's Day, lest someone in the family be "washed away".
In China, New Year's is celebrated based on the old lunar calendar and can occur in January or February. The practice of setting off firecrackers serves to ward off evil spirits, the same reason many cultures celebrate New Year's Day with fireworks, noisemakers and shouting (and incidentally, why we ring church bells at a wedding).
In most Spanish-speaking countries, including Mexico and Spain, The Feast of the Epiphany, or Three Kings Day, is observed on January 6th, also known as Twelfth Night. Children leave hay out for the King's horses the night before and, in return, receive presents from the Kings when they awaken. A cake shaped in the form of a ring is served. As in many other cultures, the ring stands for the rotation of the seasons, or the Wheel of the Year.
New Year's Day is an important and long-standing tradition throughout the world, no matter how you celebrate it. (409 words)
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Copyright 2011 Angie Mohr
