I don't understand New Year's Eve. Most people want to have a good time on NYE, but they are not sure why, and they often have a very bad time. Yesterday I saw a young girl in her party clothes sitting on the grass at 7am drinking a bottle of beer. She did not look very happy at all.
First of all, what are we supposed to be celebrating?
We used to go to Mass on the first of January, which was a Holy Day of Obligation, but I was never sure why. For a while I thought we were celebrating the 3 Kings visiting the Holy Family, but that is the Epiphany on January 6th. Then I thought it was the commemoration of the circumcision of Jesus. This was true for a while, and it made sense since this was 8 days after Christmas. The feast of the Holy Name of Jesus was then celebrated on the following Sunday.
But then Pope Paul VI moved the Feast of the Divine Motherhood of Jesus from October 11 to January 1st. For a while the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus was on January 3, but I think it is now also on January 1. In 1967, Pope Paul VI also introduced the World Day of Peace on January 1st.
Having said all of that, I think most of the people who go to church on January 1 just think of it as a good way to start the new year.
Then there is Hogmanay which is mostly celebrated in Scotland. This seems to have started as a Norse or Gaelic celebration of the winter solstice, though I thought that happens on December 21st. There are various customs involving food, fireworks and crossing the threshold of a friend. A more recent custom is the singing of the arrangement of Burn's poem Auld Lang Syne, though I can never understand why "may old acquaintance be forgot" is considered a good thing.
But those are traditional customs, today most people think of NYE as a way of starting a new year, and let's be honest, for young men to "get lucky". The main custom is to drink a lot of alcohol, mostly cheap aerated wine or beer. Unfortunately, the modern NYE customs seem to lead to more misery than happiness.
In Australia, the hospitals are full of victims of NYE good cheer. In France, the custom is to burn cars. In the US, there have been a series of gun crimes on the night of NYE. There is of course no proof that this is caused by the NYE "revels", but the alcohol and passions probably don't stop the crimes. There was also a trail of violence in the UK over the transition from 2013 to 2014.
What does all this mean? For myself, I would prefer to be asleep at midnight on Dec 31st, but the moral is probably that if you want a prosperous 365 days in the new year, first make sure you survive day 1.
The big question is: did you enjoy NYE? Don't live dangerously. Say, "Yes." I do think that the turnover of the new year is a celebration of nothing much more than a number. There are not many NY songs as there are at Christmas, except Auld Lang Syne, The fireworks can be entertaining, but most only a little different from last year's, except for the symbol on the bridge. After Christmas you feel rather flat after being on a high. People are still wanting to recapture that high. Unfortunately, for many it becomes just another gathering of the Booze Brothers, who during their hangover, start to feel like the Blues Brothers. The problem is not with celebrating NYD. The problem is with the culture that says you need to get p***ed to enjoy yourself. People just need to party by eating much more food than they drink alcohol, or by drinking soft drinks or water between alcoholic ones or by partying for a shorter time span so that they call it a night before their sensible conversation turns to alcohol-fuelled drivel. As one person once said, "nothing much good happens after midnight." However, I cannot see a reason for going to Mass on NYD more than any other day, apart from The Lord's Day, so I didn't. I am more likely to go voluntarily on days that mean more to me individually, such as Ash Wednesday and All Souls' Day. One thing is for sure. If you get a good night's sleep on 31st, you will be ready to roar into the year on NYD.
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteich habe den Silvesterabend "genutzt" um über das letzte Jahr nachzudenken und über die vielen schönen und erfüllenden Begegnungen auf dem Camino und in Lourdes. Dabei bricht das Fernweh, oder vieleicht doch eher das Heimweh nach dem Weg und den Begegnungen bei mir auf. Dazu gab es warmen Apfelsaft, einen lieben Menschen zum teilen der Erinnerungen und zwei Hunde die mir die Füße wärmten.
Viele Grüße von der Ostsee. Linda
Guten Tag, Linda. Sie haben richtig, aber hier viele menchen trinken mehr als nachzudenken (Entschuldigung fur mein Deutsch).
DeleteIch habe auch Fernweh aber ich wunsche mein haus Farben und vielleicht verkaufen. Ich liebe die ökumenische Pilgerweg machen. Vielleicht 2014 oder 2015? Haben Sie etwas über die Pilgerweg?
Viele Gruse von der Südsee, Paul