It is the 31st of December. There is less than an hour to go before midnight. The house is full of friends and relatives partying under the shiny “Happy New Year” banners and Christmas decorations.
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In the living room they are playing a compilation CD of hits from the past year – the perfect way to pay tribute to the new year! People are dancing wildly around the sofa with a sense of relief at having finished another year. After a good sleep, they will wake up as the new people of the new year. The people sitting on the sofa are laughing at the dancers, but they don’t care how silly they look now, because tomorrow is a new part of their lives and a fresh start.
In the kitchen, Bill is eating all the cakes and snacks.
“You should be careful!” says Betty. “There are thousands of calories in those!”
“Don’t worry!” replies Bill, “Tomorrow’s the start of my New Year diet! I might get hungry!”
A small group of people are watching a documentary on TV. They watch the Portuguese eating one grape for each ring of the midnight bell (12 grapes in total) to bring luck for every month in the year. Then they watch Japanese people hanging ropes on their doors to keep evil spirits away and people dressing in white and wading into the sea in Brazil.
Betty isn’t interested. She says, “What’s the fuss about the change of numbers we write on our dates? We change these numbers every day! Why celebrate now? Why not another day?”
“Ah, but the New Year is celebrated on other days!” says her daughter, Polly. “What about Diwali with all its lights and lamps around October and the Chinese New Year in the middle of January where they do that fantastic dragon dance!”
It is now midnight. Bells are ringing and everyone is cheering and singing, believing that starting the year in a good mood helps us to stay like that for the rest of the year. We have a useful saying: ‘Start as you mean to go on’. This means that it is easier to continue doing the same thing than it is to change, so if you start happy, it is easier to continue being happy! We sing the traditional song, Auld Lang Syne, crossing our arms in front of us and holding hands in circles to share our cheerfulness. People kiss and hug their family and friends to remind them how much they love them.
We open the door and spill out into the street. The neighbours come over and wish us a Happy New Year. People passing stop to chat, but they don’t stay long because their families are waiting for them to come home – the first person to go into the house after new year is called the ‘first footer’ and they can bring luck to the family.
Then there are fireworks. At first we can’t see them but we can hear them, so we look around at the blank sky. Then Peter sees them from the other side of the house, so we all run to the back garden and some run into the house to watch from the windows. After the cheery mood and hugs and kisses in the fresh winter night air I can go to sleep satisfied that this year will be a good one.
Waking up on New Years day, I lie in bed for a while, thinking about what’s going to be different this year. The New Year is a changing point for lots of us. It is the start of a new diary for some, in which they might write their New Year’s resolutions.
New year’s day is a family day. We call distant friends and relatives. Families in Thailand start the year well by giving food to the monks at the temple. They start the year cold in Vancouver where there’s a “Polar bear swim” in which people jump into the icy cold sea! In other countries around the world there are boat processions, parades and other events for families to go to.
The month of January is named after Janus, a Roman God with two heads. One head looks back to the last year and the other head looks forward to the new year. Is that how you feel on New Year’s Day? A small change in the date really does have a big effect on us!
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Phan Thi Nam Mai writes:
New Year: A time for celebration, reflection and projection
Here we are again, sitting on tenterhooks, speculating what the New Year is going to bring along. Some of us are hustling around doing our last minute shopping; others dashing to airline agencies booking the final tickets for the long-awaited homeward return. The bumblebees are busy brimming their agenda; the snails day-dreaming through their shiftless idle youth. The very final days of the old year are pulling themselves one-by-one out of our time and space. For me, every time New Year comes, I find myself falling in the same old tradition of: celebration; reflection and projection.
Born into a Vietnamese family which bears Western influence, I celebrate both the universal New Year and the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. While we have fireworks, songs and wine for the former, we have dragons, red envelopes and the beautiful yellow apricot trees for the latter. There have been a lot of factitive activities that I have attended. Sometimes, I can be in the middle of a bursting square, screaming to the resplendent colour lights, counting down to the very first second of the new beginning. Another time, I can be sitting around the dining table, in my own cosy house, laughing to old folks' jokes. I can be also with some friends or colleagues, toasting to the harvest of the year. Wishes for good luck, good health, longevity, and prosperity are passed from one to another, adding charm into life. I have my utmost appreciation for all this celebration. After all, we don't have the luxury of this all year round. Why not enjoy this to the full? I simply love the atmosphere of joy and prospect; love the wonderful company of family and friends; love the wishes I give and receive.
Behind the dazzling flashes of parties and toasts, I often spare some time simply for reflection. It is like flipping pages of a book or reviewing a tape on the recorder. Here they come: the memories of good times and bad times; the accomplishments and failures; the laughter and tears; friends and companies who have passed by - some have dwelled and others have gone. My dad keeps a neat collection of photographs which is chronologically arranged in a wooden cupboard. I love to look at them, time and again. Little toddlers have gone to school; the teens grown into fine ladies and gentlemen; older sister wedded and young brother now a lawyer; grandma and grandpa still happy and well. It amazes me how I have grown with time and how the surrounding world has changed. It takes a little courage, though, to look into yourself, scrutinising the very life you have been leading. It takes you a year to grow and one second to realise that you have.
Since we cannot stop the clock from ticking, we all have to be ready for the next thing that happens. New Year is a time when you receive best wishes for your future. Nonetheless, the best way to succeed is to plan it. My mom often calls me the creator of all plans; the maker of all schedules and in the end, the one rushing to meet the myriads of deadlines. It is what everybody may see on the surface. Actually, the purpose behind all this planning is to set a poignant reminder to myself that I always have to make good use of my time and space. It can be a source of self-encouragement or a form of self-discipline. After all, my ultimate motto as I visualise my projected life path is "Smile to greet the new day!". You may not believe me but the sanguinity of your New Year moment has an enormous impact on your coming 365 days. It fills you up with future prospect; daring you to take leaps and bounds in school or at work; carrying you through hardship and pulling you up from pitfalls.
I believe New Year is a special occasion. No matter how we celebrate; how much we reflect upon our past memories or how many deadlines we mark on the fresh pages of our agenda, let New Year come to us naturally and let us welcome it wholeheartedly. Let us all smile to greet the New Year and hope that this smile will be on you, on me and on everybody the whole year through!
Do you do any of the activities mentioned in this article at New Year? Do you do something different? Do you make New Year’s resolutions? What are they? Send us your texts.
New Year: history and traditions
Hogmanay: New Year in Scotland is different
Calendars through the ages
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