New Year of History in the Making

New Year’s Eve marks the end of the holiday season for many as people gather together to ring in a new year of life. This year, there may be less gathering, but people are still united in the hope for a better year ahead than one plagued by the pandemic, political battles, and more. Per usual, we became interested in the story behind New Year’s, and now, we will share a little bit of that story with you.

The first question that came to mind was, how did January 1st become New Year’s Day anyway? The answer lies in the more complex question of how the concept of time as we know it started. Around 46 B.C., Julius Caesar created the Julian calendar in order to create a system to clear up confusion and create a constant standard. With this, according to a History.com article, “Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year, partly to honor the month’s namesake: Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future.”

In medieval times, Christians had wanted to change the first day of the New Year to something with more religious significance such as Christmas Day, but Pope Gregory XIII reestablished January 1st as New Year’s Day, marking significance because the date would now be recognized and celebrated by those of the world’s biggest religion.

Since then, many New Year’s traditions and customs have generated and evolved. While reading up on them, I recognized one that my mom who was born in Peru shares with me every New Year’s Eve: in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, people eat 12 grapes on New Year’s Eve.

Perhaps the traditions we are most familiar with, however, are those of fireworks, parties such as those in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, hearing the song “Auld Lang Syne,” making resolutions, kissing when the clock strikes midnight, and watching the infamous ball drop at Times Square in New York City. I was curious about these since they have always made up my New Year’s Eves, so I investigated some more.

Did you know that the ball drop has happened every year since 1907? According to History.com, “Over time, the ball itself has ballooned from a 700-pound iron-and-wood orb to a brightly patterned sphere 12 feet in diameter and weighing in at nearly 12,000 pounds. Various towns and cities across America have developed their own versions of the Times Square ritual, organizing public drops of items ranging from pickles (Dillsburg, Pennsylvania) to possums (Tallapoosa, Georgia) at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

The ball drop that my dad first shared with me, though, and that I have tuned into every single year with my family and friends, has been on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. This show began on December 31st, 1972 on NBC, hosted by the band Three Dog Night and comedian George Carlin, with Dick Clark, an entertainer, as the Times Square reporter. In 1974, the show moved to ABC and Dick Clark became host—the start of the American staple.

Dick Clark continued to host the show for years, becoming a classic name in American households, but had to bow out a couple times due to health issues, leaving the popular game show host Regis Philbin to guest host. In 2000, to celebrate the new millenium, ABC had a special broadcast called ABC 2000 instead of Clark’s classic show.

When Clark’s health began to decline, he passed the torch to Ryan Seacrest, who is still the host to this day alongside Times Square reporter Jenny McCarthy. Clark passed away in 2012, but his legacy is beloved by Americans who associate his name with fresh beginnings and celebration.

Resolutions are another custom that I am very much familiar with. I remember our teachers having us write down our resolutions or goals for the New Year, and when I first hosted a New Year’s party at my house, I created a box for everyone to put their resolutions in and open the next year.

According to History.com, “The practice of making resolutions for the new year is thought to have first caught on among the ancient Babylonians, who made promises in order to earn the favor of the gods and start the year off on the right foot. (They would reportedly vow to pay off debts and return borrowed farm equipment.)”

Which brings me into the last part of this article: our personal reflections on 2020, and my resolutions for 2021. Just like the origins of New Year’s, we are acting as Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, looking back into the past and forward into the future. I will now hand it off to Caroline.

As 2020 comes to a close, I reflect on the year with a sense of reverence. We have learned more about love, friendship, patience, and responsibility this year than ever before. I am thankful for the lessons 2020 has taught us: that we must fight together for what is just, uplift each other, and persevere with a sense of the greater good. Though humbled by the losses we have experienced, I am excited for the opportunities the new year brings, political, social, and economic.

I was kept sane this year by the overwhelming support of my friends and family, who encouraged me to create my own sense of normalcy. As someone grounded by routine, I found solace in daily exercise and my job at Ben & Jerry’s, where I met new friends, ate my weight in ice cream, and, to risk sounding narcissistic, became quite good at decorating cakes! I became an avid podcast-listener (something I never thought I could get into) and created more than a few lengthy Spotify playlists. In addition, Julia Child became my quarantine mentor, as I pored over her cookbooks, baked towering soufflés and created original recipes.

2021 will be a year of great change, but we cannot expect it immediately. It is important to continue practicing physical distancing, mask-wearing, and hand-washing if we ever hope to see an end to the pandemic. I hold out hope, and encourage you to as well, for this time next year to be safe—full of family, friends, and holiday celebrations. Next up, Maggie will reflect and share her words of inspiration with us all.

2020 was a year full of surprises to say the least. At various points it all felt unreal. Sometimes I would wake up and just start to cry in disbelief and frustration, crushed by the reality of our situation. Honestly, if this year has taught me one thing, it has been that we are all so strong and when we work together we will overcome extreme hardships. I found relief in my sisters, cooking and baking, creating art, playing guitar, roller skating, speaking to close friends, enjoying music, studying, watching cinema and oddly enough, working at Dunkin’ Donuts.

I can honestly end this year saying I am stronger than I have ever been. Through quarantine I lost a lot mentally and physically but I’ve gained even more now. This year, we will be happy. No matter what comes our way. Humans are so strong and we will survive the years to come, the same way we did this one. I will continue to write for you all and keep you as updated as possible. I wish you all a very happy New Year.

With love, Maggie.

Hi everyone, this is Natalie. I am looking forward to the coming year, and hoping it brings more change from the past year. Although I will be going to college and everything will be changing, I will still have my family to fall back on, as I learned during this rough year. I am so happy to be going into the New Year with the people that make me the happiest.

No matter what history has brought, humans have persevered by knowing that there will always be people in our lives that love and care about us as much as we do them. This excites me.

I am also looking forward to adding more art to this website. I hope to create more art in general and learn about the history of our town and what people did.

It’s Nicole again! Looking back on 2020 sparks awe, gratitude, and a sense of wonder for me. The first part of the year was certainly tumultuous as we were all thrown into unprecedented situations regarding school, family, relationships, and to top it all off, the pandemic.

I am extremely privileged, however, to be able to say that as the year went on, I did not suffer any losses, but instead gained some invaluable lessons and experiences. Most importantly, I gained time and strength. Quarantine gave me the time I needed away from the hustle and bustle of school to become stronger in myself and my relationships with my family and friends. I also had the time to become stronger in my passions such as history, which is why I am sitting here writing this today, on a website I never would have thought I would have created with my friends.

At the end of it, whether you feel you came out of 2020 inspired from what you gained or drained from what you lost, here is a chance to start anew. The fact that you made it through a year full of a global pandemic, civil outcries, and political turnover is awe-inspiring in itself, and we must share our stories so that this history is never lost. I hope that’s what this website is accomplishing, which is why I am excited to continue work on it in 2021.

Other than that, I am not the type of person to create very specific goals for my resolutions. As we’ve learned this year, life is so unexpected, that I believe we should allow room for some of that. So instead, my resolutions are things I can start practicing any day, not just January 1st. I hope to be grateful for the little things, have courage to say yes to opportunities that come my way but also fight back and say no to things that aren’t right. I hope to watch the world around me with open eyes and an open heart, because history is always in the making. As all of us have echoed, each year that goes by and into the history books are reminders that humanity perseveres through each other. In 2021, we will do just that.

Works Cited

Bragman, Bob. "Vintage New Year's Eve - great archival photos from decades past." SFGate, 31 Dec. 2015, www.sfgate.com/aboutsfgate/article/Vintage-New-Year-s-Eve-great-archival-photos-6730189.php#photo-9185798.

History.com Editors. "New Year's." History, 16 Feb. 2010, www.history.com/topics/holidays/new-years.

Wikipedia. "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve." Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Clark%27s_New_Year%27s_Rockin%27_Eve#:~:text=Dick%20Clark%20hosted%20New%20Year's,day%2Dlong%20ABC%202000%20broadcast. The sources/references that Wikipedia listed for this article were reviewed before we chose to use this Wikipedia article.