Every January 1, along with New Year’s Day, brings resolutions, hopes, optimism, and a long to-do list for the upcoming year.
The New Year planning doesn’t contract to the personal and professional do’s and don’ts only; it also expands to a let-go-list. Perhaps the thoughts of — making them all done — is what makes it the Happy New Year.
From daily exercise to healthy eating habits, shopping wish lists to family tours, new job to new relationship...no aspect of life remains untouched.
Illustration: A family celebration of New Year's Day!
The following aspects remain the highlights:
- Short-term and long-term plannings to fulfill the dreams and goals
- Floating good and bad memories
- Career and health-oriented resolutions
Preview
Date of New Year's Day Observance
The first of January— the first date of the year.
History: Timeline of the New Year's Day
5000 BC
In ancient times, people used to refer to the Sun and moon for knowing the time and year.
Over 4000 Years Ago: The First Day of First New Year
As per the historians, the Babylonians and Mesopotamians used to observe the New Year as per the moon phases and the vernal equinox (The time and date वhen the quality of day-night is observed due to the presence of sun just above the equator).
This is the time when the Babylonians perform the religious rituals for about 11 days. They observe the festival of Akitu with the vernal equinox for honoring and pleasing the sky God Marduk. They rejoice and celebrate the victory of their God over Tiamat, the sea goddess.
Egyptian’s New Year
The Egyptian’s observed the new year as per the Sirius, the stars, and water-flood in the river Nile.
Chinese New Year
Aligned with the day detailed above, the Chinese people observe New Year Day as per the arrival of the second new moon that falls post-winter solstice.
New Year As per the Gregorian Calendar
The New Era
After a long history of observing the New Year that was aligned with the phases of the moon, today’s era’s Gregorian Calendar found its stardom. Its credit goes to the early Roman Calendar by Romulus who had founded Rome along with his brother- Ramus.
During the eighth century, the original Roman calendar came into existence when the Sunlight was observed equally with the darkness, and the historic 10 months and 304 days were marked.
The Ancient January and February
The history got updated when Januarius and Februarius were introduced because of Numa Pompilius, another Roman king.
46 BC: The Development of Julian Calendar
Many historians suggest that the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was behind the Julian calendar who made January one popular as the first day of the New Year.
Julius Caesar gave the idea of adding one more day after every four years for balancing the pre-Julian calendar with the new one. This idea of Leap Years was executed to align the lunar and solar calendars.
The Middle Ages
It was the time when the church-heads decided to celebrate Christmas day on January 1. The Annunciation feast was also replaced because of this new change.
Today’s Gregorian Calendar
Do you know who was behind the name of today’s calendar? He was a pope who launched the self-named calendar.
The most popular Gregorian calendar that we use today had begun its journey in 1582 when the theory of 365 days came into popularity. The RomanPope Gregory XIII showcased this calendar with 365 days instead of presenting it as per the phases of the moon. The counting of the days or a full year was aligned with the number of days that the earth takes in completing its rotation around the sun.
New Year's Day Celebration
Prayer Offerings
People offer prayers to their Almighty God for blessing them with one more year. They show their gratitude towards the Lord God and for adding a new year into their lives.
Hangover Concoction
Where some people try to become more spiritual, there are many who start their first day of the New Year with a hangover concoction.
Resolution Vs Personal Attitude
People celebrate the New Year in whatever way; the most interesting story remains what they do of their resolution and determinations. We all are determined to become the new one – the better one! But can one succeed to make it overnight?! Changing your habits for the good is indeed a modus operandi. Not only New Year’s first day but the initial few days of the New Year go like that where one battles with himself and tries real hard to blue to his resolutions.
Football Match
Many people enjoy the day with their family, friends, and relatives by playing an on-screen football match.
Why is New Year's Day Celebrated?
No Spotlight, No Judgement
One remains skeptical and doubtful about encountering the change. New Year is the time when no one judges you and you can transform yourself the way you want.
Your decision of being vegetarian, opting for a low-carb diet, incorporating great habits, adding a gym to your routine, quitting alcohol... No one is going to judge you for any of your decision.
You can become the hero for others and motivate someone out there to choose healthy practices and habits.
Change is in the Air
You also get a positive atmosphere to be aligned with your goals as you find everyone struggling in reaching their goals which inspires you in a different way altogether.
Joy Maintains Your Energy
New Year’s day is indeed a festival to celebrate the change, newness, and transformation around. It’s an event to celebrate our visions, dreams, and new perspectives. It is the best time to think big and beyond.
The Opportunity of Drawing a New Canvas
As the word suggests—“New” Year. it’s new, new, and new everywhere. It’s just your mind who needs to accept this truth and grab the opportunities and hopes with positivity.
You have the whole New Year aligned in front of you to make the most of it. Explore, learn, travel, and make new connections. Do your best by doing what you are best in. For some time, belong to nowhere and let all the bitter memories and experiences be dumped into the bin.
Remember, you deserve to be a happy soul and live a joyful life.
New Year’s Day Traditions: Significance of New Year's Day
New Year’s day is not just another day of the year, it has got religious significance as well.
Do You Know Making Resolutions is a Tradition?
Have you ever thought about who gave the idea of making resolutions on New Year’s Day?
The Babylonians and Mesopotamians belong to those earliest cultures from where the tradition of New Year’s celebration was introduced. Not only this; they also brought the idea of making resolutions on the first day of the year.
Who knew the concept of making resolutions will bring so much positivity and hopes into human lives?! Thanks to the diversity of cultures around the world which teach us new ways of life! We belong to whatever region or religion, every culture has some beauty and quality to appreciate and adopt.
Black-eyed Peas: Special Food of New Year’s Day
Here is the second surprise! The tradition of adding the black-eyed peas into your meal is a Jewish New Year’s Day tradition for 1500 years.
You cook and eat these black-eyed peas for religious or celebration purposes, they are both nutritious and healthy.
Get Ready to Shake Your Head
Other than black-eyed peas, pork is also famous in many countries as the special dish of the New Year’s Day menu.
In many traditions, pigs denote abundance and progress. Pork is a famous dish on the menu of New Years Day celebrations in Austria, Hungary, Cuba, and Portugal.
Why People Celebrate New Year's Day?
New Year comes as an opportunity to brainstorm on:
- What we did in the past year
- Where we went wrong
- Where we can improve
- where we need to be hopeful.
Alike our birthdays, it inspires us to make a new start, leaving the doubt and negativity behind.
It also gives us a feeling of gratitude towards our creator for Adding one more year into our lives.
Interesting Facts and Figures about New Year's Day
More Miles, More Adventure
As per the forecasting by AAA, Americans are going to travel this holiday season more than the previous season.
They are going to increase this number from 726 miles to 760 miles.
This data regarding traveling is astounding; isn’t it?!
Hangover Food at Restaurants
If you are also among those party-lovers who suffer from hangovers after celebrating hard on New Year’s Eve, you are not alone. About 28% of Americans are with you as per the research.
Did the conference? No! The data has surprisingly come out from the restaurants where 28% of Americans ordered the hangover food.
Landing of 8000 New Babies
We have got about 8000 newborn babies who landed on this planet on the first of January, celebrating their birthday along with New Year’s Day.
Some of them are celebrated by the hospital staff also as they give you the treatment with a proper cake-cutting ceremony.
Some become a celebrity as soon as they take birth by occupying space in their local newspapers.
Resolutions and New Year’s Habits
As per the survey done on 1000 people by a data science team:
The highlights of this research are as follows:
- 90% of people not only make resolutions but also keep them
- 36% of people always make resolutions but fail to keep them
- 23% of people do not make resolutions because they know they are going to break them
- 22% of people never meet them because of some unknown reason.
How many people fail or succeed in keeping their resolutions is interesting data, But the details of these resolutions are more exciting.
Have you ever thought about what people decide to resolve the most? Here are the more interesting facts and figures about new years day resolutions to excite you more!
- 51% decide to lose weight
- 47% resolve to workout more
- 25% aim to get a new job
- 46% resolve to intake healthier food
- 31% set their goals regarding personal growth
- 30% wish to spend more time with their family members.
- 18% think of inculcating a new hobby or learn new skills
- 9% make a goal of raising at work
- 8% drink less alcohol
- 18% resolve to quit smoking
- 9% decide to get into a relationship
New Year Celebration and Resolution Ideas
New Year’s first day makes us realize we have survived for 365 more days, which is not less than a great blessing. It is indeed worth celebrating and rejoicing in our new beginning with new hopes.
Kick Start with Your Favourite Meal
You go to any corner of the world, food is something which is light by we all living beings.
Any celebration remains incomplete without a toothsome meal or your favorite dish that adds spark into your life. Go for an awesome starter, drink, or a special recipe to rejoice.
Be easy to yourself for this day and enjoy those pancakes, ice cream, or a strong coffee.
Dare to Take a Daring Decision
Be Organised
there are some areas of our home and room which take guts to touch. gather some motivation into your muscles and choose to be more organized this year. Check out if you need to fix the mess in the following departments:
- Kitchen store
- Fridge
- Cupboard
- That cartoon filled with gift items
- Those racks of stationery items
- The Almira of books
- Makeup items
- Shoe boxes
Choose Hygiene and Cleanliness
The way technology, viruses, and pandemic situations have been introducing themselves into our lives, it is the need of the hour to check out our habits.
- Check out and discover those corners and hidden spaces around your route and home which have been demanding deep cleaning for a long back.
- Swipe out some dust and let your furniture also experience the sparkling light on them.
- Clean those utensils and crockery items that you do not use in daily life.
Be Courageous
This is the best time when you can say goodbye to some of your old clothes. If it had been getting too tough for you to kick out your old jeans that are not worthy to wear now, this is the day to show some courage.
Speak Out Your Resolutions
Speaking them out will help in the following way:
- You will have this information in your mind-racks that people who envy you or make a mockery of you know about your announcements and now you have to do it, no matter what.
- When your family members and friends will get to know that you are up to a mission, they will support you and help in making your journey easier. It is big or small, Such motivation works wonders. You become more likely to perform your best and your probability of cracking it increases exponentially.
See the Magic of a Diary
Let your diary become your personal assistant and best friend. make short-term and long-term plans and goals in it. Let your diary keep the detailed swot analyses and reports about your productivity. Share your emotions buck-up plans.
You might not reach your every goal, but it will definitely improvise your performance in comparison to what happened in the past.
Don’t forget to appreciate yourself on your every tiny or great achievement. Tap your back and gather some courage and motivation from your every success story. Be hopeful for the next time where you couldn’t make it the way had you planned.
Choose the Real Pleasures Over Shallow things
This year, choose what you are supposed to do as a normal human.
- Be with your family
- Gather some good memories with your beloved ones
- Give preference to reconciliation
- Patch up with your old friend
- Step ahead towards your dreams
- Forgive someone who does not deserve your forgiveness
- Aim to spread more smiles around you do you
- Be kind, call, and humble
- Drop those bugs into your behavior which create chaos and mess
- Target to shed lesser tears this year
- Give space to yourself and others
- Try to cultivate healthy habits
- Choose positivity, hopes, courage instead of anxiety, and spilling beans against others
In short, lead towards the improvement and betterment in your both personal and professional life.
Learn Something New about New Year's Greetings and the Day
Here are three most asked questions that keep spinning around the mind:
- Is it “New Year's”?
- Why do people use ‘s’ with the “new year”?
- Should we say Happy New Year's or Happy New Year?
New Year or New Years
Well, it is none of the above.
The proper noun for mentioning the first day of the year is New Year’s Day.
When it’s about years beginning, you can mention the new year in lower case.
The Greetings of the New Year
Let’s dive into some speaking and writing styles for greeting someone a Happy New Year. When you give someone the New Year’s wishes, you don’t need to use ‘s’ or possessive apostrophes.
Why so much dilemma?
Such confusion occurs when people choose to speak and write something that is more convenient (no matter it’s correct or not). The word with the possessive proper noun is so common that it starts to sound and sit better with the usually used sentences. So as we write New Year’s Day or New Year’s Eve with ‘S’, it becomes a habit while speaking too.
However, now you know what is correct and proper. If it was a long story to understand, here are the highlights highlighted below:
- When you are supposed to mention this holiday, write – New Year’s Day.
- When you just want to refer to the starting of the year, write using the lowercase – new year.
- When you want to greet someone or give wishes, write – Happy New Year.
