A brand New Year has just started as I write
this article and glance at the almost pristine calendar on my wall and on my
desk and prepare to bin last year’s calendar – full of scribbled and scratched
out notes, things done and not done, promises kept and not kept. I turn the
pages and totally inadvertently, review the year that has just gone out of the
door. ‘I mustn’t repeat my errors this year. I must be more focused’ I tell
myself. Yet, I do not believe in making resolutions on a New Year’s Eve – I don’t
think that I have ever done it, consciously. Yet here I am, trying to define a
few rules that I would try to follow. As, I am certain, billions of other
people have done over the last two weeks – publicly or privately.
Poets and writers over the centuries had a
special thing for the last day of a year – some of the best poems were written
about them – the dying year that refuses to leave, clinging on to the doorstep,
the bright New Year that stands on the threshold with the promise of better
tomorrows. The Mortal refuses to listen to the promises, arguing that the year
that has gone by came in the same say, and did not keep its promises. Someplace
else, a thrush sings out in a bleak winter landscape, singing of ‘some blessed
Hope, whereof he knew / And I was unaware.’ Lord Tennyson urged the wild bells
to ring in celebration – for the old year is dying and with it will die all the
disappointments and failures and grief.
This is probably the true spirit of
celebrating New Year in any society, right across the globe – on one particular
day in the year, now defined by the Gregorian calendar, we make an effort to
put the past behind and look forward to the days that are to come. It is
interesting to note that in many ancient agricultural societies, the harvest
signaled the end of the year. What was sown earlier was reaped; the crops were
the results of the toil of the year. After the harvest would come the time to
prepare the earth again for next year’s bounty. In a lot of places in India,
for instance, the last day of the month ‘Poush’, the month for harvesting the
traditional crops, marks the end of a year. In some countries it is the vernal
equinox that heralds the arrival of spring and things reborn that was
considered the beginning of a new year. The ancient Romans began each year in
spring by making promises to the god Janus, the two-faced god who looks
backward into the old year and forward into the new. The Persian New Year,
called Nowruz, is a 13-day spring festival that reaches far back into antiquity,
and many of the traditions associated with it are still celebrated in Iran and
several Middle Eastern countries. The Chinese New Year , celebrated in between
end January and February, marks the victory over an evil bloodthirsty creature
called Nian that preyed on people. The villagers, the story goes, took to
decorating their homes with red trimmings, burning bamboo and making loud
noises to scare off the craven beast. The bright colors and lights associated
with scaring off Nian eventually became integrated into New Year celebrations -
the impressive colorful processions with dragons and fireworks mark the
beginning of New Year in many a country in South East Asia.
Think of the most famous New Year celebrations
today in Time Square, Champs Elysées, Trafalgar Square, Embankment, Sydney
Harbour and hundreds of other cities all over the world - at the stroke of
midnight the sky lights up with incredible fireworks, witnessed every year by
millions of people. Ever wondered where this custom came from? I did a bit of
research and I think it might have come from the Hogmany festival in Scotland
that definitely has pagan origins. In the pagan winter celebrations, fire
symbolized the newly resurgent sun coming back to the land, and was believed to
ward off evil spirits dwelling in the darkness. Fires still play a major part
in Hogmanay celebrations, with torchlight processions, bonfires and fireworks.
And it continues today, filtered through the Ages of Reason, Enlightment and
many others, not only in Scotland but right across the globe.
Ever wondered why Anglo-Saxon countries
observed the ‘first footing’ for a very long time and probably still do? The
first person to cross a home's threshold after midnight on New Year's Eve was
believed to determine the homeowner's luck for the New Year. The ideal visitor
is a dark haired man or someone with a coal scuttle. A strange custom which may
date back to 8th century Scotland invaded by fair-haired Vikings - a blond
visitor was not a good omen for the household. Intriguing, isn’t it? The
Britons actually designated a dark haired person to cross the threshold on the
stroke of midnight. They had to come in through the front door and leave
through another one. They opened their doors and windows at midnight too to
help the old year go out and New Year come in.
Almost all countries in the world have their
specific rituals on the New Year’s Eve, with two predominant traits –
symbolically getting rid of the old year and enticing the New Year to bring
luck and prosperity. Italians used to break old glassware and throw old things
out of the window and eat a special meal of lentils and greasy sausage that is
supposed to bring prosperity. ‘Forget the year’ parties in Japan bid farewell
to the worries and concerns of the year gone by and prepare for new beginnings.
The Spanish tradition consists of eating 12 grapes with each stroke of midnight
for good luck. In the Scandinavian countries an almond is hidden inside the
traditional rice pudding which will bring good luck to the finder. The same
concept is used in the traditional Greek Vassilopitta and the French Galette
des Rois. In almost all countries in Asia people wear new clothes on the first
day of the New Year and pray to their Gods to bring good luck and fortune.
There are numerous superstitions associated
with New Year’s Eve –strict do’s and don’ts that need to be respected to ensure
good luck, prosperity, fortune and happiness in the New Year. In certain parts
on America housewives used to refrain from sweeping or washing clothes on New
Year’s Eve to prevent good luck from being swept or washed away. Pockets should
not be empty nor should precious stuff leave the home on New Year’s Eve. A
hearty and healthy meal on New Year’s Eve will ensure the same throughout the
year. A mirror accidentally broken on New Year’s Eve will certainly bring bad
luck. In many Asian countries people are recommended to visit their workplaces
and do some token work on the first day of the New Year. The New Year is South
East Asia often starts with a visit to the temple to pay respect to elders and
ancestors.
I am in total disagreement with the New Year
skeptics who see no point in celebrating something as banal as New Year – which
arrives mechanically, after 365 or 366 days – a totally artificial and arbitrary
diving line – whatever the nature of the calendar. But then, that is the logic
of everything we celebrate – birthdays, anniversaries, religious festivals or
the arrival of different seasons. What I do agree with is expressed beautifully
by Helen Hunt Jackson and needs no comments:
“Only a
night from old to new!
Never a
night such changes brought.
The Old
Year had its work to do;
No New
Year miracles are wrought.
(…)
Only a
night from old to new;
Only a
sleep from night to morn.
The new
is but the old come true;
Each
sunrise sees a new year born.”
[APARAJITA SEN]
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