New Year’ s Day By: Chanachon“ Nam” Boonphakdee
New Year’ s Day By: Chanachon“ Nam” Boonphakdee
We all know that January 1 st every year is the time to celebrate the arrival of a new year. A time to forget the old, and embrace the new. Yet there may be a few things about this wonderful time of the year that may surprise you. Here are 10 facts about New Year’ s Day: Fun fact # 1: January 1 st was first celebrated as the date of a brand new year back in 45 B. C. in the time of the Roman Empire / Republic in accordance to the Julian calendar. However, Julius Caesar redesigned the calendar in order to correspond to the seasons. Later, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar( the one still in use today) in order to right minor discrepancies in the Julius calendar( one of which is making sure that the New Year lands directly on January first). Fun fact # 2: New Year’ s Day is traditionally observed with a feast. But since the early 1900s, it has become a day where everyone gathers around and watch firework displays( with a particularly big display held every year at Sydney, Australia). Some however, celebrate by holding a watch night service, a strictly Christian tradition where participants review the past year, give confessions, praying, and preaching. Fun fact # 3: Different places in the world celebrate New Year’ s differently. In China, house doors( and walls) are painted red because it is believed that red attracts good luck. In England, it is believed that the first( male) house guest of the year will bring good luck to them. Said guest should enter the front house bringing foodstuffs and coal to light the fire. If he doesn’ t, he shouldn’ t be allowed to enter. In Denmark, people throw their old dishes at their friends’ doors( the amount of broken dishes at your house indicates the amount of friends you have) and jump on chairs when New Year’ s Day comes around. Fun fact # 4: Some places in the world have their own New Year’ s. In Thailand( where I’ m from), the traditional New Year’ s lands mid-April, and is known as Songkran. The event is usually marked with throwing water at each other to indicate happiness and to cool off from a hot summer. In Sri Lanka, New Year’ s Day also lands in mid-April and is called Aluth Avurudhu. Festivities include house cleaning( yes, it is considered a festivity), herbal bathing, and making exotic dishes. Fun fact # 5: The tradition of fireworks and firecrackers being used on New Year’ s stem from the belief that very loud sounds will scare any bad luck and spirits away. Fun fact # 6: The tradition of kissing during the year change wasn’ t a recent invention, contrary to popular belief. No one really knows when this tradition came about, but it is worth noting that in old English and German folklore, this can set the tone for the following year. Fun fact # 7: Black-eyed peas, ham, and cabbage are considered good luck if you eat them on New Year’ s Day. Chicken and lobster, however, are considered bad luck. This is because chickens scratch themselves backwards and lobsters can walk backwards. Both are considered“ bad luck foods” because they can reverse your good fortune for the worse. Fun fact # 8: Due to the banning of fireworks, the New Year’ s Ball in Times Square New York was invented back in 1907. The first ball weighed 700 pounds and was lit by 100 25-watt lights. Nowadays, the ball weighs 11,875 pounds, is lit by 32000 LED lights, and measures 12 feet in diameter. Over 1 million people gather at Times Square to see the ball drop every year. Fun fact # 9: Okay, not really a“ fun” fact, but a fact nonetheless- according to statistics by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, during the New Year’ s celebration cars have the highest chance of being stolen. So uh ….. keep your keys and cars safe! Fun fact # 10: In a recent survey of questionable origin, 45 percent of all Americans make New Year’ s resolutions. Out of that 45 percent, only 25 percent of them gave up their resolutions by the second week of January. We’ ll leave it up to you to decide if you trust those numbers!
Get more time to myself – Siarah Willenberg
Read more books for fun. – Mrs. Susan Poland( 7-12 Counselor)
Spend more time with people that matter and take out people that don’ t. – Marrisa Zentz
Do more adventurous things. – Emilee Sweley( LPS Alumnus)
Keep being awesome & get better at shooting. – Mrs. Nikia Hunt( 7-12 Teacher)
3