For Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year!!

Over the next few days, millions of people will be thinking about how to make this year better than the last. Roughly, 95% of them will not take any action. How can you make certain that you are in the 5% that DO?

Most people will think about losing weight, stopping smoking, working harder, learn a new language or getting out of debt. Sadly though, the fatalists will think about their resolution, then immediately think of and remember all of the times it didn’t work before and then give up.

Others, a very small percentage, will follow through an actually take the first step or steps towards their resolution, then quit at the first challenge. An even smaller percentage will do all of the above and just keep going until they achieve the goal. To find out which category you are in, just think back to last years new year resolutions and see how many you didn’t even start, took only tentative step or indeed completed?

Personally, I don’t believe in ‘resolutions’ as such. I don’t think that they provide any more than an ideal, perhaps a guiding principle. Instead I set goals and targets but not only on 1st January, I set and review them every three months. As my birthday is June 21st, it serves as an ideal six monthly review . There is a structure to the process and the frequent check points help measure or track progress. nonetheless, January is a very exciting time for me and later  this month, I will be running Goal Setting workshops again to help those of you who don’t want to leave your goals to hope, chance and luck to use the same exhilarating and inspiring process.

For now though, lets stay with resolutions. Where do they come from? What are the New Years Eve traditions in different parts of the world?

Janus, Ancient Symbol Of Resolutions

The tradition of the New Year’s Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar. With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year. However, it was in 46BC when the actual new year was set on 1st January when Julius Caesar first developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars. The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the God of beginnings and the so-called guardian of doors and entrances.

 

Good Luck Traditions

I remember as a child, my parents insisting on a dark-haired person being the first one through the door in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Come the stroke of midnight, no matter what the weather we’d all have to go out into the front garden and then the one with the darkest hair, usually me,  would go through a ritual of taking a piece of coal in through the front door and out the back, over the years, the coal was replaced with an old penny thought to bring wealth. Even as a child a remember thinking what a load of superstitious nonsense this is. Seemingly though, it was not just my parents that had their traditions, here are a few traditions from around the globe:

• AUSTRIA – The suckling pig is the symbol for good luck for the new year. It’s served on a table decorated with tiny edible pigs. Dessert often consists of green peppermint ice cream in the shape of a four-leaf clover.

• ENGLAND – The British place their fortunes for the coming year in the hands of their first guest. They believe the first visitor of each year should be male and bearing gifts. Traditional gifts are coal for the fire, a loaf for the table and a drink for the master. For good luck, the guest should enter through the front door and leave through the back. Guests who are empty-handed or unwanted are not allowed to enter first.

• WALES – At the first toll of midnight, the back door is opened and then shut to release the old year and lock out all of its bad luck. Then at the twelfth stroke of the clock, the front door is opened and the New Year is welcomed with all of its luck.

• SPAIN – In Spain, when the clock strikes midnight, the Spanish eat 12 grapes, one with every toll, to bring good luck for the 12 months ahead.

• GREECE – A special New Year’s bread is baked with a coin buried in the dough. The first slice is for the Christ child, the second for the father of the household and the third slice is for the house. If the third slice holds the coin, spring will come early that year.

• CHINA – For the Chinese New Year, every front door is adorned with a fresh coat of red paint, red being a symbol of good luck and happiness. Although the whole family prepares a feast for the New Year, all knives are put away for 24 hours to keep anyone from cutting themselves, which is thought to cut the family’s good luck for the next year.

• UNITED STATES – The kiss shared at the stroke of midnight in the United States is derived from masked balls that have been common throughout history. As tradition has it, the masks symbolize evil spirits from the old year and the kiss is the purification into the new year.

• NORWAY – Norwegians make rice pudding at New Year’s and hide one whole almond within. Guaranteed wealth goes to the person whose serving holds the lucky almond.

Over the centuries, New Years Day has moved from the Roman January 1st, to the Christian December 25th, then they moved it to March 25th (Annunciation) and then in the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII moved it back to the Julian calendar making 1st January the first day of the year.

Today, there is no doubt that January 1st is a very important time for everyone, both for reflection and for thinking ahead. I’d prefer to remove the superstition and replace dogma with planning, hope with vision and wishful thinking with action. If goal setting is not for and resolution is what you prefer, that’s fine too. However, I would encourage you to choose your resolution carefully. Instead of making arbitrary resolutions to want more, have more and so on, resolve to reflect more often on what you already have, resolve to appreciate, every day, what and who is in your life right now. Resolve to love and appreciate your life just the way it is, even with the challenges, and I promise you that you’ll soon start to feel healthier, wealthier and happier in 2011. From that place, from that feeling of contentment with things just the way they are, anything more that comes your way – and it will- will be the icing on your cake! Have a Happy & Peaceful New Year!

 

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