The Passing

  

            Now that a new year is upon us, most people turn to resolutions they will never keep. We promise ourselves. We convince ourselves. A few days later and it is like those promises were never spoken. The middle of January seems to be the cut-off point. A few weeks of trying finds most people sick of it all. Come the halfway mark of the month and things are back to normal. Granted, there are some who follow through on their resolutions. Some stick with a diet, some quit smoking. Many join a gym. It is rare to find someone who holds to their guns and proceeds throughout the year. For most of us, me included, the entire process is nothing but jumbled words that have no real meaning. Life is complicated so it is no surprise that we tend to ditch anything that might add to our mess. Our intentions are always grand come New Year’s Day, but they quietly fade away back into nothing. I suppose the tradition serves some purpose. I would argue it’s like confessing to a priest or skipping that Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. You put it out there, but it only serves that moment, and very little else. Most people hope for change, but they do nothing to make it so. All the talk in the world is for naught if you do not make good on your word, particularly when you are only disappointing yourself. We all want to make a fresh beginning. We all want to be better, to act better and to live better. Unfortunately, it takes work to make a difference, and most people are too lazy to really care about anything but the Smartphone in their hand. New Year resolutions, for the most part, are a waste of time. Any good that might come out of them is lost the moment we push them out of our mouths. They seem to serve no actual function.



 

            The customs behind making a New Year’s resolution have been around for thousands of years. The tradition is the same, but the meaning has evolved over centuries.  New Year’s resolutions have not always looked the way they do today. Primarily a “Western Hemisphere” practice, millions of people every year vow to kick their bad habits, make life richer and make themselves richer too. In an attempt to make the next year more salutary, we promise away undesired traits, and bad behaviour, “in order to accomplish a goal or improve our life.” The foundation of the tradition lies more in the religious than the secular (that we tend to follow these days). Instead of making promises to yourself, people in antiquity made their resolutions to God. The Babylonians (1895 BC - 539 BC) “made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts.” The Romans (27 BCE - 476 CE) “began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named.” In the Medieval era, the knights took a “vow at the end of the Christmas season each year,” re-affirming their commitment to chivalry. Many Christians continue to prepare for the year ahead by making resolutions to their God. A watchnight service is a “late-night Christian church service.” In various Christian segments, such as Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal, “watchnight services are held late on New Year’s Eve, and end after midnight.” This provides the opportunity for “Christians to review the year that has passed and make confession and then prepare for the year ahead by praying and resolving.” There are many parallels between other religious traditions and the custom of making resolutions. Judaism has Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which culminates in Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). It is here that the followers are “to reflect upon one’s wrongdoings over the year and both seek and offer forgiveness.” The secular version seems to be the more popular. Every year, millions of us make promises that some actually will try to keep. An American study discovered 46% of participants who made common New Year’s resolutions (e.g. weight loss, exercise programs, quitting smoking) “were likely to succeed, over ten times as among those deciding to make life changes at other times of the year.” Perhaps there is something to all this.

            Over time, things evolve, they change and they grow. Practice turns into tradition and tradition evolves based on culture and ethnocentric factors. The North American experience is only but one of the many faces of the New Year. Each season, New Year festivities spread out all over the world. Each one a cultural and, in many cases, a religious expression. Each custom is merely a variant of the same theme. The standard fireworks and countdown seem to manifest around the globe but there are individual aspects that differ to one degree or another. They may seem trivial, even useless, but they express the same message across the board. In China, celebrants paint their front doors red to “symbolize happiness and good luck in the New Year.” In India, the change from December to January is greeted but there are many different dates recognized as the New Year. The most common is Rongali Bihu, which is “celebrated in mid-April on the first day of the Hindu solar calendar.” For those celebrating in France, “le réveillon de la Saint-Sylvestre (eve of New Year’s eve)” is an opulent alternative to lesser forms of revelation. Participants “feast for hours on foie gros, goose or turkey, oysters and plenty of champagne,” all meant to “signify fortune in the year to come.” At the stroke of midnight, Spanish revellers “ eat 12 grapes,” one for each time that the clock strikes down at midnight. Completion will determine your luck throughout the coming year. As mentioned previously, Israel finds the New Year in early autumn with Rosh Hashanah. The Islamic New Year, Al-Hijra, occurs on the first day of Muharram which is ”the first month in the Islamic lunar calendar (late September).” In Canada, and other parts of North America, annual Polar Bear Plunges have become routine. At midnight, on December 31st, many “Buddhist temples ring their bells 108 times,” then retreat to their temple to feast and pray together. For Orthodox Christians, New Year’s Eve finds entire neighbourhoods walking the streets singing carols, then they feast. The vasilopita, or St. Basil’s Cake, “is cooked with a coin inside, and the recipient of the piece of cake with the coin is said to be lucky for the coming year.”

            I used to spend New Year’s Day entertaining family and friends. Sometimes, they would entertain me. My Mom always gathered her family around her and served a huge meal. It was so much work for her, but it mattered as much as anything else would. It can be such a busy day. More revelry, more food, more relatives can be too much. Lately, any arrangement we made regarding holiday celebrations left January 1st  unattended. I like it that way. No rush, no cooking, just the couch and all the junk food Christmas mustered. Ben and I will be celebrating both Christmas/New Year’s on the first of January with my brother Al and his family at his home in London, Ontario. Considering many factors, it can still be rewarding to spend time with family especially those you actually want to spend time with.

 

Besides memories of televised events from the night before, the day brings all the festivities to a crashing end. It’s over, for the most part. Friends use the holiday to take down most of their Christmas fare. My Mom and Dad’s house was vetted just the same. At my home, calendars are attended to, and the new year finds a place to hang for over 12 months. With this year as an exception, I normally take the day off. I begin “the removal” on January 2nd, if I am free. Fireworks behind, the week after the event is rather boring. Media, in most of its form, would have us reliving the events from the year past. Over and over again, top ten lists abound and constant reviews of the year. So, we seem to do the things that we did and did not do the year before. Each hold like a mirror to our fault and our failure. Our only hope is to have some form of hope. We make resolutions for just this reason. We strive to make it a better year right from the get-go. We tell ourselves if we do this, or don’t do that, the months that follow will bring what we desire the most. We wish for prosperity yet do nothing to earn it. We wish for luck then run reckless throughout our lives. We want so many things, we resolve to do so many things, but it all just seems clutter in a room reserved for wasting your time.  


  

 

            Early on, the entire energy of New Year’s, especially New Year’s Eve, has been lost on me. I never really got just what the big deal was all about. I thought time was relative. After all these years of festivals and concerts and countdowns, you would think I would have somehow clued in along the way. This has not happened. I still shake my head at people freezing for a mere 10 seconds even if I have been one of them. I have toasted so many years’ passing that I barely remember them all. I can’t believe all the time I’ve spent waiting for something that really is irrelevant. As we celebrate the final moments of the year, half the planet already has. I guess for me, the entire festival seems like a waste of time regardless of all those fireworks come midnight. Granted, “we value analogous things and celebrate in our own ways, but we all love to share these moments we hold sacred.”

Over the years, I have experienced many fun-filled evenings leading up to the big event. There have been just as many that found me quietly enjoying, finally, a silent night. If you turn off the volume on your tech, you do not have to listen to all the noise as the ball drops and the confetti flies in Times Square. You also don’t have to listen to Ryan Seacrest bore us with his vanilla appeal. I will admit to once entertaining myself by interacting with family and friends on New Year’s Day. The night before, that cherished eve, and I am now watching CNN or ABC, sipping on a drink or two and sharing the moment with my partner. We like watching the sparks fly. The New Year comes and there is little difference to me. I still don’t get it. People spend so much time and energy on such superficial things. We use money to secure our happiness. We don’t deserve it. Our priority is self-gratification rather than a general concern for mankind. Imagine if New York skipped the confetti on New Year’s and donated that money to the homeless or downtrodden. I’m not saying we should not celebrate the passing from one year to another, it just seems more spectacle than substance. No matter how you celebrate the New Year, “most people around the world embrace and honour the passage of time with mixtures of reverence and revelry.” We all make resolutions, and we mostly fail to follow through on them. Most people are just lazy. Most people do the same things year after year. I suppose if it brings a little joy into one’s life then it can’t be such a bad thing. Sometimes, I am not in on the joke. I do recognize that these common rituals show how similar we all are, despite how unique and diverse our cultures.

 Another year has passed, and I continue to no longer associate with my Paternal family. Each year seems better than the last. I have kept this resolution. My oldest brother and his clan are the only contact. Nothing is gonna change about that because I don’t want it to. I am more than fine with things the way they are. I must admit I miss my parents deeply but otherwise I could really care less. My Christmas had to be lessened this year primarily due to health reasons and my ability of handle the physical complexities of the season. Things were different because circumstance was different. It will be nice to spend New Year’s Day with my brother and his family. Still, the best part of any New Year is when I gladly find myself even further away from what used to be and nearer to a better day. I think that is the secret behind any New Year’s joy, tomorrow can be better.

 

Sources

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_resolution

https://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-new-years-resolutions

https://www.livescience.com/42255-history-of-new-years-resolutions.html

https://www.onedigital.com/blog/history-new-years-resolutions/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchnight_service

 

https://greenglobaltravel.com/20-ways-to-celebrate-the-new-year-around-the-world/

https://www.almanac.com/content/when-does-islamic-new-year-begin

https://www.readthespirit.com/religious-holidays-festivals/tag/new-years-day/

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