Yappy Gnu’s Ear!

Another year is winding to a close, and a new year is upon us. Of course, we must pause to pay our respects to Pope Gregory, who reformed the calendar so that the New Year falls in the dead of winter, rather than with the rise of spring as it had been celebrated for millennia previously.

It was also Gregory who gave us “leap years,” adding an extra day every four years so as to account for the 365 1/4 days of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

As we know, other cultures follow different calendars, and celebrate their New Year on different dates.

But, for Western society, as arbitrary a date as January 1st is, it is what we know as the start of the New Year.

Why, though, do we attach such significance to this date? Why do we use this date to make resolutions to change our habits and our lifestyles? Why can’t we make resolutions at any point during the year?

What is there to celebrate about a day when we find ourselves blanketed in snow, shivering in the cold, and longing for Spring?

In fact, at one point in our history, Spring was considered the beginning of the year. When you think about it, Spring is a time of re-birth and new birth, and it makes eminently more sense to consider that season the start of the year.

My druidic ancestors, for instance, would conduct elaborate rituals to persuade the gods to allow the return of the warmth of the sun in order that the earth may awake from its wintry slumber and again provide the necessities of life.

As I mentioned in my last editorial, the newly-created Roman church imposed “Christian” holidays on the pagans, mainly by transposing church-based celebrations with those of the pagans. Christmas was a substitute for the celebration of the Winter Solstice throughout Europe, as practiced by the Druids.

The Winter Solstice is when we have the shortest day and longest night, and thereafter the days begin to grow longer again. For that reason it does make sense, in a fashion, that we peg our New Year at this point.

But even though the days are growing longer, the next few months of snow and cold are somewhat discouraging; at least, they are to me.

Of course, here at this latitude and above, Spring does not begin when the calendar says it should, around the 21st of March – the date of the Vernal Equinox. Perhaps because of this, Spring is all the more welcome when it does return.

However, we are faced now with the New Year, and can only look forward to Spring.

I find I don’t much care for the typical New Year’s Eve celebrations. I’m not much on big parties to begin with, and frankly staying up past midnight doesn’t hold the same appeal as it once did in my youth.

I refuse to pay to elbow my way into a crowded ballroom and raise a glass with a couple of hundred strangers. But that’s just me.

And really, what changes between 11:59 pm and 12:01 am?
I’m not knocking those who do celebrate New Year’s… as with so many things in life, that is a personal decision.

And I can’t deny that some of the celebrations that take place around the world are spectacular. (I saw a brief clip of the celebrations in Sydney – those Aussies know how to party in a big way! )

I have enjoyed a number of smaller get-togethers over the past decade or so; just a few friends gathered to raise a toast and reminisce, and maybe play a few hands of cards or a board game.

For me, I will acknowledge the “new year” although, as will many others, I will likely continue to write “2007” on cheques and other documents for a brief time. It may be an arbitrary system, but it is the system we have, and I will continue to count the years as they pass – and they seem to do so more quickly as time goes on!

So, to all, have a Happy New Year, and I wish you all the best for the coming year.