Fire Works, Parties, Resolutions, and Traditions

Another year closes and a new year begins. While pondering how fast this turbulent year flew by, I remembered from my childhood the coloring pages of baby new year and old father time. I decided to see where the tradition had started and why.

You might think Baby New Year would signify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as a newborn child. However, according to History.com, a baby representing the new year began in 600 B.C. in ancient Greece. In Greece, each year they celebrated the rebirth of Dionysus, their god of wine and fertility. They placed a baby in a basket and carried the child around parading the mark of this rebirth. "Baby New Year" has appeared in every form of media for several hundreds of years according to this source.

Julius Caesar was the first to declare January 1st as the first day of the new year. This was partly to honor the month's namesake-Janus. Janus was a two-faced Roman god of beginnings who had one face to look to the future, and the other to look to the past.

According to a Dec. 16th, 2020 article in Good Housekeeping," Baby New Year" became secularized by newspaper cartoonists in the 19th century. The Saturday Evening Post featured a different drawing of a baby on every first-of-the-year issue. This series of covers was drawn by cartoonist Joseph Christian Leyendecker from 1907-1943, and each baby was drawn to represent the spirit of that specific year.

As the story goes, Baby New Year will age into an old man, "Father Time", by the end of each year when he turns over his timekeeping duties and impart his wisdom to the next Baby New Year

Watching the ball drop in New York City's Times Square has been a New Years tradition since 1907, where the first ball was a 700 pound iron and wood round. It is now nearly 12,000 pounds and twelve feet in diameter. Fireworks, parties, and "Auld Lang Syne" are part of Americans traditional celebrations for the New Years.

What ever you do in your family to celebrate the New Year, I wish you all the best year yet in 2022. Hopefully we will all have a fulfilling year, cherishing our friends and families, counting our many blessings, and loving this time we call LIFE.