Happy New Year To All!!!

Our modern celebration of New Year’s Day stems from an ancient Roman custom, the feast of the Roman God Janus – God of doorways and beginnings. The name for the month of January also comes from Janus, who was depicted as having two faces – one looking back into the past, and the other peering forward to the future.

January 1 is a logical day for new beginnings. At the December solstice in the northern hemisphere, we have the shortest day of the year. By January 1, the days are obviously lengthening again. This return of longer hours of daylight had a profound effect on cultures that were tied to agricultural cycles. It has an emotional effect on people even in cities today.

The early calendar-makers didn’t know it, but today we know there is another bit of astronomical logic behind beginning the year on January 1. Earth is always closest to the sun in its yearly orbit around this time.

People didn’t always celebrate the new year on January 1. The earliest recording of a new year celebration is believed to have been in Mesopotamia, c. 2000 B.C. That celebration – and many other ancient celebrations of the new year following it – were celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox, around March 20. Meanwhile, the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians began their new year with the autumnal equinox around September 20. And the ancient Greeks celebrated on the winter solstice, around December 20.

The idea of using the first day of January to mark the beginning of the New Year dates back to time of Julius Caesar, five decades before the birth of Jesus.

January 1 represents the fresh start of a new year after a period of remembrance of the passing year, including on radio, television and in newspapers, which starts in early December in countries around the world. This day is traditionally a religious feast, but since the 1900s has also become an occasion to celebrate the night of December 31, called New Year's Eve. There are fireworks at midnight at the moment the new year arrives.

                             

TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

                                                                                            Ridhima Bhatia

                                                                                                BPT (1)

The New Year is the time of unfolding horizons and the realization of dreams, may you rediscover new strength and garner faith with you, and be able to rejoice in the simple pleasures that life has to offer and put a brave front for all the challenges that may come your way. 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

                                   

                                                                                       Best Wishes,

                                                                                     TEAM ED-BOARD.