I love New Year’s because without fail every New Year brings a refreshing feeling. It’s like you can start all over again, forgetting whatever mistakes or troubles you had in the past year and start with a clean slate. Almost every country celebrates the New Year and in many different ways. People make resolutions, have parties, exchange gifts and attend religious ceremonies. In celebration of New Year’s 2006 here are some interesting facts about the ancient holiday.

New Year’s is one of the oldest holidays and was first observed in ancient Babylon over 4000 years ago. It has not always been celebrated on January 1st, around 2000 B.C., the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring). The history of New Year’s also goes back to 153 B.C., the Romans had a mythical king named Janus and they placed him at the head of the calendar. Janus had two faces so that he could look into the past and see into the future, he became an ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans began to look for forgiveness from their enemies and exchange gifts.
The most popular early resolutions were to return borrowed farm equipment. Today the top ten most common resolutions are:

1. Lose weight
2. Stop smoking
3. Stick to a budget
4. Save or earn more money
5. Find a better job
6. Become more organized
7. Exercise more
8. Be more patient at work/with others
9. Eat better
10. Become a better person

There are many New Year’s traditions, to start with it was thought that a person could affect the luck that they would have in the New Year by what they ate or did on New Year’s Day. That is why it is common that to have a party on New Year’s eve to celebrate the first few minutes of the year with friends and family. There are several foods that were believed to be symbols of good luck, for example, any food in the shape of a ring was said to be lucky because it symbolized “coming full circle”. The Dutch eat donuts on New Year’s Day. In many parts of the U.S it is common to eat black-eyed peas. Cabbage is another vegetable that is considered lucky because it symbolizes prosperity because the leaves represent paper money, rice and hog meat are also considered to be lucky foods for New Year’s.
A New Year’s Eve party would not be complete without singing Auld Lang Syne at the stroke of midnight. It is sung in almost every English speaking country that celebrates the New Year and has been a tradition since the 1700’s. Written by Robert Burns in 1741, it was first published in 1796 after his death. "Auld Lang Syne" can be translated to "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days." The chorus lyrics are:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne

However you choose to bring in the New Year we hope it is a happy one!