Interesting facts about New Year’s Day!
January 1st was established as the start of the new year by Julius Caesar in 46 b.c., but most of western Europe would not adopt January 1st until Pope Gregory XIII reestablished it in 1582. England, a Protestant country, and her colonies in America would not officially recognize the date until 1752.
The ancient Babylonians began the practice of celebrating a new year. For them, it occurred on the first full moon after the spring equinox. For them, New Year’s was also coronation day, as they would crown a new king during this time. They also started the practice of New Year’s resolutions.
Many countries choose to celebrate New Year’s with symbolic food. Legumes, like the black-eyed peas popular in the southern US, symbolize coins and good fortune. Pork is considered lucky in countries like Cuba, Austria, Hungary, Portugal and other countries. Sweden and Norway eats rice pudding with an almond hidden inside. Whoever finds the almond is supposed to have a lucky year.
The crystal ball that is dropped in Times Square in New York City weighs over 12,000 pounds and is made up of 2,688 crystals and more than 32,000 LED lights. It’s grown from the 700-pound iron and wood ball used at the first celebration in 1907.
Other cities and towns drop items to celebrate the New Year. Dillsburg, Pennsylvania drops a pickle. Tallapoosa, Georgia drops a possum. Key West, Florida drops a giant conch shell.
“Auld Lang Syne” means “times gone by”. It was written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788.
There are 49 million bubbles in a bottle of champagne. A quarter of the champagne consumed in the US is purchased between Christmas Day and New Year’s. The cork leaves the bottle at 50 mph.
The Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, California uses an estimated 18 million flowers to decorate more than 40 floats. It’s enough flowers to reach back and forth from New York to LA three times, if they were laid next to each other.
45 percent of Americans make New Year’s resolutions. More than half of those resolutions do not survive halfway through the year, with a quarter of them being abandoned in the first two weeks. 60% of those resolutions is to lose weight.