It’s that time of year! Everyone is either making New Years Resolutions or has broken them already. All this discussion got me thinking, where did this common practice originate from?
Answer? The Babylonians, nearly 4000 years ago. The Babylonians lived in Ancient Mesopotamia, which is now known as southern Iraq. It is the Babylonians who are credited with starting the tradition of New Year’s Resolutions, although they were not specifically called that at the time. For the Babylonians, new year fell in mid-March, to coincide with the planting of new crops. At this time, the Babylonians hosted the festival of Akitu, in which they either reaffirmed their loyalty to the current king or crowned a new one. At this time, they also promised to pay any outstanding debts – if they failed to do this, their pagan gods would not be happy.
Like many things in the modern world, we can thank the Romans for the next few developments. In 46 BC Roman emperor Julius Caeser put his own spin on the Babylonian calendar, declaring January 1st as New Year’s Day. January is named after the Roman God Janus, the two headed Roman God that looks both to the future and to the past. In attempts to please Janus, and gain good fortune for the forthcoming year, Romans would make offerings to the deity.
During the Middle Ages, knights would take the ‘Peacock Vow,’ which sounds way more colourful than it was. Knights would renew their fealty to the current monarch and maintain their values and morals of being a knight. While swearing this verbally, knights would place their hand on either a live or a roasted peacock.
Enter Christianity. For Christians, the 1st of January became a day of reflection. Methodist founder John Wesley founded the Covenant Renewal Service in 1740, which are also known as a watchnight service. On these nights, typically held on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day, Methodists would pray and make resolutions for the new year. The service became a spiritual alternative to the usual socialising that came hand in hand with New Year’s Eve. Since its inception, Evangelical Protestant churches have taken on the custom of watchnight services.
New Year’s Resolutions also have other religious parallels, such as Christians giving up something for Lent to improve oneself. Jews also have Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, which is seen as a time of reflection and seeking forgiveness for ill behaviour over the past year. New Year’s Resolutions entered more into the mainstream in the 1800s, and the complete phrase of ‘new year resolution’ first appeared in a January 1st edition of a Boston newspaper in 1813.
As you can imagine, different countries have different traditions. In Italy, they are called ‘buoni propositi,’ or ‘good intentions.’ Around this time of year, Italians also try to draw in as much good luck as they can, by wearing red underwear at New Year or eating black-eyed peas. In Brazil, resolutions should be made all in white, as it represents purity, at the beach. After the clock hits twelve, Brazilians go into the ocean and jump seven waves whilst making seven wishes. Here they are paying tribute to Yemanja, the goddess of water. Interestingly, Colombians do not make resolutions but make wishes. When the clock strikes twelve, Colombians make twelve wishes, one for each chime, and to signify each wish, they eat a grape. Some people write their wishes on paper, keep it throughout the year and then burn it on New Year’s Eve, ready to make a new one.
Now New Year’s Resolutions are common practice, but whether people actually stick to them remains to be seen!
Thanks for reading!
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