Okay . . . so am I the only one that finds it hard to celebrate New Year’s?  It’s not that I don’t wish everyone a great new year, I just find it odd to celebrate such an arbitrary date.  “Arbitrary?” You ask.  What could be more definite than the beginning of the year?  Glad you asked.

The “Western” New Years Day, the 1st of January each year, is based on the Gregorian calendar.  Named after Pope Gregory XIII, the calendar most of you are familiar with was introduced in 1582 and adopted by predominantly Catholic countries of Europe.  Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christian countries kept the Julian Calendar (instituted by none other than Julius Caesar in 46 BC) until one-by-one they too adopted the Gregorian model.  The last European hold-out was Greece, which didn’t change to the Gregorian calendar until 1923.

Lest you think, however, the Gregorian calendar is the only game in town these days, consider the following:

            The Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day will fall on the 28th of January in 2018.  Because it’s based on lunar cycles, New Year’s Day in this calendar changes yearly.  Celebrations marking this day include Tet, in Vietnam, Sollal in Korea, and Chun Jie in China.  Japan observed Shogatsu on this day as well until it adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1823.

            Tsagaan Sar, the Mongolian New Year, will be celebrated on the 26th of February in 2018.

            Nowruz, essentially the Persian New Year, is celebrated on the 20th or 21st of March each year and is traditionally celebrated with the planting of a tree.

            Hindu New Year is on the 28th of March this year.

            Kha b’ Nissan, the Assyrian New Year, is celebrated at the beginning of Spring, on the 1st of April in 2018.

            Songkran is Thailand’s New Year celebration and it takes place over the course of two days beginning on the 13th of April.  Sri Lankans celebrate Aluth Avurudda, Pakistan celebrates Vaisakhi, and Cambodia celebrates Choul Chnan Thmey on this day as well, though only the Cambodians seem to make it a three-day observance.

            Ethiopian New Year will take place on the 11th of September this year.

            Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish civil year, occurs on the 20th of September in 2018.

            And Muslims celebrate Hijri—New Year’s Day in accordance with the Islamic lunar calendar—on the 22nd of September this year.

How can there possibly be so many different versions of New Years?  Well, it really comes down to the different methods for marking the passage of time.  Back when agriculture formed the centerpiece around which majority of the world’s cultures revolved, the most important thing to track was the changing of the seasons.  For that, lunar calendars marking the phases of the moon worked just fine.  The wide variance in lunar calendar dates reflects the fact that growing seasons for the world’s different staple crops vary significantly from region to region. 

As civilizations—or their growing governmental systems—began to require a more precise method of measuring time, solar calendars rose to prominence.  It’s no coincidence that the Julian and Gregorian Calendars were adopted by the humongous bureaucracies that managed Republican Rome and Catholic Europe respectively.

For all that history, however, I have to admit I find it amusing when I hear folks talk of the new year as if it’s a new beginning.  “A chance to start over.”  Really?  So . . . what . . . stupid decisions made last year just don’t count?  As if bad things that took place in 2017 can’t somehow cross that temporal line into 2018?  Okay, okay, maybe if you’re waiting out a statute of limitations for some crime or something, but for the rest of us, what, are we living in an Xbox game?  ‘Cause I’ve yet to find the reset button!

New Year’s Resolutions strike me much the same way.  Okay, so you want to get in better shape, maybe lose a few pounds.  So on New Year’s Day, you promise to do just that.  Hmmm.  Why not make that decision a few weeks or months prior?  Seriously!  Drop the Boston Crème, give up your permanently reserved seat of honor at the Cheesecake Factory, go outside and get some exercise!  Is there some New Year’s magic that’s supposed to make such a resolution mean more because it’s uttered on that day?  Okay, I’ll bite, which New Year’s Day is the magic one? 

Here’s the thing, I guess.  If you want to improve your life, do it.  Don’t wait or rely upon New Year’s to make a “special” promise to yourself.  Apologies to Nike . . . but just do it!

The New Year will be for you—and for me, frankly—exactly what we make it.  Will things happen beyond our control?  You bet!  But more often than not, it’s how we react to these events than the events themselves that have the longest-term effects. 

All that said, if you’re one of those people who just NEEDS to make a New Year’s resolution to feel right with the world, endeavor to react to every obstacle this year with a positive attitude.  Turn lemons into lemonade (or a whiskey sour for some of you—you know who you are!) and make the most of what life sends your way.  You’ll generally feel better and your attitude will do wonders for those around you.

Regardless, not to be the Grinch that stole anything . . . Have a Happy New Year . . . and, for my friends in Japan, Happy Shogatsu! (明けましておめでとうございます!)  And, so I don’t have to do this again and again in 2018, happy Sollal (새해 복 많이 받으세요!), Chun Jie, Tsagaan Saar, Nowruz, Kha b’ Nissan, Songkran, Aluth Avurudda, Choul Chnan Thmey, Rosh Hashanah, and Hijri!

M. G. Haynes