Here?s a toast to New Year?s customs

Since tomorrow starts off a new year, 2007, and as tonight is, as everyone knows, New Year?s Eve, I thought it might be fun, and informative, to try and discover how some of the more common New Year?s traditions got started.

Of course, it really isn?t that hard to figure out how the idea of holding a party on New Year?s Eve came about. It just makes sense that people would gather together to ring in the new year and say farewell to the old. The 12 o?clock countdown is also pretty obvious, but how the notion of blowing horns came about is a little more obscure. Maybe it started as a way to let everyone in the village know the new year had arrived and then just found its way into the New Year?s party from there.

For those who are prone to imbibe, the tradition of drinking a toast to the new year isn?t surprising either. After all, as the party goes on, it usually doesn?t take much incentive for someone to propose a toast to whatever strikes them as a fairly good reason to do so. Or even a bad reason. Or any reason whatsoever. Of course, the advent of the new year is a pretty good reason, so they don?t have to worry about being ribbed for proposing that one.

Well, enough about the partying. On to some other traditions. Here?s one from another country that has found its way here, but not necessarily as part of the New Year?s celebration. Seems that in British Columbia, Canada, a lot of intrepid folks take a traditional polar bear swim, donning bathing suits and plunging into the frigid winter water around Vancouver.

It?s no surprise how that one hasn?t caught on in a big way down here. Brrr.

And what about music? Christmas has its carols, so it?s only fair that the New Year?s celebration have its own traditional tune. As everyone probably knows, that tune is ?Auld Lang Syne,? the most popular song for English-speakers on New Year?s Eve. This old Scottish song was first published by the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns way back in 1796.

It?s often said that ?Auld Lang Syne? is one of the most popular songs that nobody knows the actual lyrics to, or what they mean. ?Auld Lang Syne? literally translates to ?old long since,? which means ?times gone by? in the context of the song. Personally, I?m glad that part of the song hasn?t been commonly translated. I mean, ?for Auld Lang Syne, my dear? sounds a lot more romantic than ?for old long since, my dear,? don?t you think?

Now, here?s a New Year?s tidbit that all you sports fanatics out there, and parade fanatics too, may not know. The famous Tournament of Roses Parade actually dates all the way back to 1886. It celebrated the ripening of the orange crop in California, and the members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with flowers. It was 1902 before the Rose Bowl football game became a part of the celebration, but oddly enough, the game was replaced by, of all things, chariot races the next year. But in 1916 the football game was back and became the permanent centerpiece of the festival.

And where did the tradition of using a baby to signify the new year come from? Well, turns out this goes way back. All the way back to Greece around 600 BC, and it turns out it fits right in with idea of a New Year?s party. Seems the Greeks celebrated their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby around in a basket, representing the rebirth of Dionysus as the spirit of fertility. Early Egyptians favored using a baby as a symbol of rebirth as well.

At first this idea didn?t sit well with the early Christians due to its pagan origins, but it became so popular the church eventually relented, and the custom remains to this day.

Charlie Johnson is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].