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NEW YEAR’S DAY 2023

May the new year bring you warmth, love, and light to guide your path to a positive destination.

Hello followers,

Ringing in the New Year is a cause for celebration, for spending time with friends and family, and for offering Happy New Year wishes.

A lot can happen in a year and between the good, the bad, and the ugly, this may seem like an understatement for most.

As glasses are raised and fireworks explode into the sky, it is important to recognize the special symbolism that the New Year brings.

Happy New Year, new beginnings, and fresh starts, as well as a time of reflection.

Whether your New Year resolutions consist of keeping your hands out of the cookie jar or giving your heartfelt word to work on relationships with loved ones, it can take a lot of effort.

And it can make all the difference to put these hopes into New Year.

January 1 is New Year’s Day!

A time of optimism, planning, and resoluteness.

There is a feeling that maybe this year we will make the changes we have been meaning to, more rest, better eating habits, more exercise, or a new job.

New Year’s Day is about taking a moment to get ready for everything that is about to unfold.

Happy New Year!

In the United States and many other countries around the world, January 1, the first day of the Gregorian calendar, ushers in a new year replete with New Year’s resolutions and promises to do better than in the year before.

The day begins with hangover concoctions for some and, for others, prayers of gratitude for surviving to see a new year filled with promise.

But how did this holiday begin?

It is a very old story.

Most civilizations aligned their calendars with the moon.

The ancient Mesopotamians and Babylonians observed the new year over 4,000 years ago.

For them, a new year followed the phases of the moon and the vernal equinox, when sunlight and darkness were equally balanced.

The Babylonians ritualized the vernal equinox with Akitu, a religious observance spanning 11 days.

The Egyptians marked the new year with the flooded waters of the Nile and the star, Sirius.

To this very day, the Chinese New Year arrives with the second new moon after the winter solstice.

The evolution from the lunar calendar to today’s Gregorian calendar commences with the early Roman calendar devised by Romulus, allegedly suckled by wolves who, along with his brother, Remus, founded Rome.

The original Roman calendar was introduced in the eighth century at the start of the vernal equinox (when the light and the darkness are equal, remember?) with 10 months and 304 days.

Another Roman king, Numa Pompilius added Januarius and Februarius.

Most historians credit the Roman emperor Julius Caesar with developing the Julian calendar, designating January 1 as the start of a new year.

The Gregorian calendar, which many nations around the world use today, arrived in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII aligned the calendar, not with the moon, but with the earth’s rotation around the sun marking 365 days.