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History Series: New Year’s Resolutions
History of New Year’s Resolutions
Where Did They Begin?
As I mentioned previously, New Year’s Day celebrations began in pre-Christian times, beginning with the Babylonians in March but later changed to January by the Romans.
Where did we get the idea of New Year’s Resolutions, and why at the beginning of the year?
Babylonian New Year’s Resolutions
About four thousand years ago, the Babylonians held a 12-day festival to celebrate their New Year. This Mesopotamian festival of Akitu survived the subsequent Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Seleucid Empire (one of Alexander the Great‘s generals), and into the Roman Empire period.
But in their calendar, the New Year followed the Vernal Equinox, the beginning of the Spring planting season. Consequently, their resolutions included the assurance that they would return borrowed farm tools, pay any debts, and pray for favorable crops.
Roman New Year’s Resolutions
January is dedicated to the Roman god who gave it its name, Janus, the two-faced deity who looks backward into the old year and forward into the new. His feast day, the Agonalia, is on January 9. Janus was also the patron and protector…
