Looking for some age-old traditions to ring in the (Western) New Year on Jan 1^st? Many people don’t realize that the Jan 1^st date is a relatively new creation, designed to aid civic matters such as taxation. While New Year celebrations reach back as far as documented human history, with the Sumerians celebrating their own version of New Year with their 12 day long Akitu festival, this celebration was tied to agricultural seasons and barley planting, and was therefore celebrated in the Spring. The January 1^st date we celebrate today first appeared in 46 B.C.E. throughout the very vast Roman Empire when Julius Caesar implemented a new civic calendar. The Julian calendar was tied to solar movements, and set the New Year after the Winter Solstice celebrations had concluded; this marked the start of January and the celebration of the duel headed Roman god Janus who oversaw both new beginnings and the passage of time. While January 1^st remained the official civic date for the New Year even after the fall of the Roman Empire, most of the population still celebrated the New Year in Spring and tied it to the sowing season; by the Middle Ages the New Year was back to March 25^th.

In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII approved the Gregorian Calendar which changed the way leap years are calculated. The Julian Calendar defined a year as being 365.25 days, which was close, but not exact. The new Gregorian standard increased the precision of the calculation to 365.2425 days. As part of other sweeping edicts Pope Gregory XIII implemented, he also officially moved the New Year celebration as he felt that a Spring festival date was taking the common people’s (in Latin, the plebeians’) focus away from Easter. Due to schisms in the Christian Church that emerged during the European Reformation, only Catholic countries initially accepted the new calendar, while Britain and its colonies, including America, refused the move until 1751, stubbornly double dating everything for 170 years. By the time the British Calendar Act of 1751 was passed, the deficit caused by the miscalculation of the solar year had increased to 11 days. To correct this, Wednesday, September 2nd, 1752 was immediately followed by Thursday, September 14^th, 1752, the very next day. As you can imagine, public panic spread and conspiracy theories about being cheated out of 11 days of life – not to mention rent – abounded. Blame the Illuminati.

Despite the New Year date being relatively recent, there are many ways to celebrate and bring luck into your life as the clock strikes 12, even if you have no one close by to kiss. Many of these rituals and traditions hark back to older celebrations and incorporate symbolism for new beginnings and good luck.

Food often plays a role in festive traditions and New Years is no exception to that. Lobsters and other crustaceans are tabooed due to them walking backwards or sideways, which is the antithesis of moving forwards into a New Year. Round fruits, especially those colored yellow or orange, have often been associated with wealth and are often considered lucky around the New Year. Eating 12 grapes, one for each month with each clock chime is a tradition originating out of Spain that has gained popularity. In the American south, many eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day, a tradition that according to the Farmer’s almanac stems from the saying: “Dine humbly on New Year’s Day, feast grandly for the remaining year.”

Opening the front door to welcome the New Year in, while leaving the back door open to usher out the old, can also give you a fresh start for the year, and jumping off furniture or into the air as the clock strikes 12 can also symbolize a fresh beginning as you land in the New Year.

Clothing color choice can also play a part (apologies to all those already struggling to decide what to wear) with traditional color symbolism helping to manifest your intentions for the New Year – white for new beginnings, red for love, yellow for happiness, green for health/wealth, blue for peace – the list goes on.

By far the cutest New Year traditions we’ve seen floating around the interwebs is the Lemon pig , a cute little critter easily constructed with a lemon and a few household items. Pigs have been associated with the New Year because of their symbolic connection with fertility and wealth, so this little guy should bring luck to those who create one. Basically, you take a lemon, cut slits to form ears and a mouth, and insert cloves for eyes. Toothpicks form the legs, while a twisted coil of aluminum foils serves as a tail. Once formed, a shiny penny (or other coin) is inserted into the mouth for luck. 

However you choose to celebrate, we wish you all a healthy, peaceful, and prosperous New Year, in this coming year, and in all the New Years that follow.