THE NEW YEAR

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 21051, 30 December 1933, Page 10

THE NEW YEAR

WELCOMED WITH GAIETY AND REJOICING IMMEMORIAL CI'STO.MS Throughout the world the celebration of the birth of the New Year is a festivity in which all nations share and which they honour in ways as varied as themselves. From time immemorial the celebration lias been a universal I one, marked in ancient days by rej ligious ceremonial and mysterious j rites and in modern days by a spirit of gaiety and good humour in which the troubles of the old year are forgotten and the joys of the new one welcomed. Not always was New Year celebrated at the season corresponding I to the beginning of January, even among European races. Among heathen peoples to this day the j period of spring, the opening of nature's year, is regarded and pro- j perly celebrated as the beginning of the *l2 months which the earth takes I to make its journey round the sun. Even among the ancient Romans the j year began in March and it was not until Numa Pompilius. the second king of Rome, added two months to the calendar, the first of which was January, that the European year came to begin in what is, in the Northern Hemisphere, the depth fit winter. Religious Significance. In the Middle Ages the New Year had a religious significance, to the extent that the festivals associated with it were of a religious nature. At the same time, there were grafted on to these festivals many of the old pagan rites descended from the earliest inhabitants of Europe. Just as many of the rites associated u ith May Day in rural England are believed to be of Druidic origin, so many of the ceremonies connected with the ushering in of the New . Year are thought to have had their ; beginnings in pre-Christian ages and , to be survivals of the customs ol i the Druids and of the Celtic in-, habitants of the land in almost pre-1 historic times. . ; One of these festivals, which is. perhaps, more Firmly rooted in the memory ol mankind th«n any ot.ici . ;-nd with which most members qt , the English-speaking races are familiar, is Hogmanay, as the New Year observances are called in Scotland.! Hogmanay bears more than a supci-l ficial resemblance to the Pardons,. the religious festivals in Brittany, which, though religious in character, nre undoubtedly survivals of the ] Celtic "'Festivals of the Dead." j Hogmanay Customs. Hogmanay to-day is usually an ex- ! euse for hospitality, for a gathering] of friends who wish to drink to the New Yea- in good Scotch whisky.] hut in former times its celebration | involved much complicated cere- , monial, ol which "first-footing was onlv the culminating point. "Firstfooting," which is still an honoured custom in many Scottish communi- | (ies, is the crossing of the door-step i for the first time on New Year's j morning. If the arrival is a darkhaired person, he is supposed to bring good luck with him, and on no account must he be allowed to leave the house by the same door. For the benefit of those who may be going first-footing on Monday morning, as well as for the information ; of those receiving first-footers, it is important to remark that while the host is naturally expected to entertain his guest, it is an essential part j of the ceremony that the first-footer j himself should be armed with a ; bottle. j The custom of giving gifts - to one's j friends on New Year's Day is another observance which has fallen into clisuetude among communities I predominantly English, although it is still preserved in Scotland to some extent. Tn the past, however, it was one of the principal means of honouring the birth of the year, and from the earliest recorded celebrations there are records of feasting and of the interchange of gifts. The Giving of Presents. j In England the custom was common to till sections of society, and even as late as the reign of Charles 11. provision was made for it as a part of the public expenditure of the court. In England and Germany in the last two centuries, however, Christmas Day has replaced New Year's Day as an occasion for the giving of presents, although New Year's Day is still largely observed in France and Italy, as well as in Scotland. When the Cathedral bells ring out on New Year's Eve they will be following a custom which has been in existence for many centuries. In savage communities the noise of bells and fireworks is believed to scare away evil spirits, and it may be that ringing in the New Year was originally a custom designed to j secure propitious circumstances for the birth of the infant year, that bv their sweet music evil spirits might be driven, from its cradle and good ones attracted to it. But for the majority of Englishmen New Year is predominantly a time for merry-making and rejoicing, to be celebrated by gaiety which at other seasons of the year would seem inappropriate. The truth is that the New Year, bringing with it the close of a 12 months which may or may not have been happy ones and the beginning of another year, with all its rich possibilities, carries with it an annual message of hope which mankind never forgets. Whatever the New Yaar holds in store the old year is done with, and the coming 12 months must be greeted with due and proper rejoicing.

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