Once Christmas has passed, the world looks to a new year. Many wonder what the new year will bring while planning their own ways of ringing in 2026.
In New York City, the famous dropping of the Times Square Ball will mark the new year. It is a tradition dating back to New Year’ s Eve 1904 when Adolph
Photo by The Associated Press
Ochs, then owner of The New York Times, devised it as a way of celebrating the new year by having the glass ball lowered on the roof of his newspaper building. The modern ball, its fifth incarnation, is glass, six feet in diameter, and weighs more than 1,200 pounds. It was manufactured by Waterford Crystal and has more than 9,500 LED lights illuminating it. It is the most popular new year’ s observance in the United States.
Observances of the new year date back thousands of years as ancient peoples recognized the regular shifting patterns of stars at night and the sun in the day and their connection to particular seasons. The earliest observances of January 1 for the beginning of the year began with the Romans around 713 BC. The Romans named the first month of their lunar calendar year January after the Roman god Janus, who supposedly was the god of time and also the god of beginnings and transitions. According to legend, Janus had two faces, one looking into the past and the other looking into the future. It was a day marked with great celebrations.
The tradition of Rosh Hashanah marks the tradition of the Jewish new year, which means“ head of the year” in Hebrew, a tradition dating back to the Old Testament. This holiday is not observed in January but sometime in September or October, depending on the lunar calendar. The two-day celebration includes many symbolic foods, including apples dipped in honey to mark a sweet new year. It is a national holiday only in Israel and Ukraine.
In most countries throughout the world, January 1 is an official holiday to mark the beginning of the new year. Even many non-western countries will observe January 1 as New Year’ s Day because of the overwhelming influence of European and American business and culture for the past few centuries as they ultimately adopted the modern Gregorian calendar used throughout the West, even in officially atheist nations like China.
The Chinese New Year will not start until February 17. Under the Chinese Zodiac system dating back many centuries, 2026 will mark the Year of the Horse, symbolizing vibrancy, fiery energy, adventure, vitality and momentum. In China, fireworks are set off to mark the new year and to also scare off demons and forces of darkness.
Similarly, Feb. 17 will mark the traditional Vietnamese New Year, known as Tet. The Vietnamese lunar calendar is
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