Many of us in the Alien ET UFO Community are loners and we keep to ourselves or so I am told. Many of us have family but were never really understood due to our differences in beliefs. Being that I celebrate life in the USA, I celebrate with all my family, friends, and peers in North America. For all of you around the world, I hope that the New Year will bring each of us health and prosperity. The way of the future desired by the Supreme Beings is Health and Prosperity for all which they rightly named the Ascension Age.
The official age marked in time by our ancient ancestors is 12-21-12. I will begin celebrating immediately because of my own personal choice in astral travel. Those who desire to share in creating books to come out for Ascension Age our date is 12-12-12.
Being that I was told my name Jan short for Janette came from the name Janus I was told I should celebrate this year by sharing the basic open source information on the history of our New Year for 2012!
So here is the basic information for those who are interested in our cultural traditions. I love history and that includes people, places, and things that make up history. Personally, I will enjoy a nice private day with my spouse at home. I have looked forward to this time on earth reading a good book and tuning into the parades which is the celebration my mother started for all her children. I will cook a nice meal. I hope everyone has HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
The Romans dedicated this day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings.
The month of January was named after Janus, who had two faces, one looking forward and the other looking backward.
This suggests that New Year’s celebrations are founded on pagan traditions.
Some have suggested this occurred in 153 BC, when it was stipulated that the two annual consuls (after whose names the years were identified) entered into office on that day, though no consensus exists on the matter.
The celebration of the new year on January 1st is a relatively new phenomenon. The earliest recording of a new year celebration is believed to have been in Mesopotamia, c. 2000 B.C. and was celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox, in mid-March.
A variety of other dates tied to the seasons were also used by various ancient cultures. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians began their new year with the fall equinox, and the Greeks celebrated it on the winter solstice.
Early Roman Calendar: March 1st Rings in the New Year
The early Roman calendar designated March 1 as the new year. The calendar had just ten months, beginning with March. That the new year once began with the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months. September through December, our ninth through twelfth months, were originally positioned as the seventh through tenth months (septem is Latin for “seven,” octo is “eight,” novem is “nine,” and decem is “ten.”
Read More on Wikipedia or some Sourced here:
A History of the New Year — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/newyearhistory.html#ixzz1hV1mcPlv
January Joins the Calendar
The first time the new year was celebrated on January 1st was in Rome in 153 B.C. (In fact, the month of January did not even exist until around 700 B.C., when the second king of Rome, Numa Pontilius, added the months of January and February.) The new year was moved from March to January because that was the beginning of the civil year, the month that the two newly elected Roman consuls—the highest officials in the Roman republic—began their one-year tenure. But this new year date was not always strictly and widely observed, and the new year was still sometimes celebrated on March 1.
Julian Calendar: January 1st Officially Instituted as the New Year
In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar introduced a new, solar-based calendar that was a vast improvement on the ancient Roman calendar, which was a lunar system that had become wildly inaccurate over the years. The Julian calendar decreed that the new year would occur with January 1, and within the Roman world, January 1 became the consistently observed start of the new year.
Middle Ages: January 1st Abolished
In medieval Europe, however, the celebrations accompanying the new year were considered pagan and unchristian like, and in 567 the Council of Tours abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year. At various times and in various places throughout medieval Christian Europe, the new year was celebrated on Dec. 25, the birth of Jesus; March 1; March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation; and Easter.
Gregorian Calendar: January 1st Restored
In 1582, the Gregorian calendar reform restored January 1 as new year’s day. Although most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar almost immediately, it was only gradually adopted among Protestant countries. The British, for example, did not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752. Until then, the British Empire —and their American colonies— still celebrated the new year in March.
For more New Year’s features see New Year’s Traditions and Saying “Happy New Year!” Around the World.
Read more: A History of the New Year — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/newyearhistory.html#ixzz1hV1torl7
Dates in March, coinciding with the spring equinox, or commemorating the Annunciation of Jesus, along with a variety of Christian feast dates were used throughout the Middle Ages, though calendars often continued to display the months in columns running from January to December.
Among the 7th century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts at the New Year. This was a pagan custom deplored by Saint Eligius (died 659 or 660), who warned the Flemings and Dutchmen, “(Do not) make vetulas, [little figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf, compare Puck] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks another Yule custom.” The quote is from the vita of Eligius written by his companion, Ouen.
Most countries in Western Europe officially adopted January 1 as New Year’s Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. In England, the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, was the first day of the new year until the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1752.
The March 25 date was known as Annunciation Style; the January 1 date was known as Circumcision Style, because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, being the eighth day counting from December 25 when Christ was believed to be born.
This day was christened as the beginning of the New Year by Pope Gregory as he designed the Liturgical Calendar
New Year’s Day is observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar as well as the Julian calendar used in ancient Rome. With most countries using the Gregorian calendar as their main calendar, New Year’s Day is the closest thing to being the world’s only truly global public holiday, often celebrated with fireworks at the stroke of midnightas the new year starts. January 1 on the Julian calendar currently corresponds to January 14 on the Gregorian calendar, and it is on that date that followers of some of the Eastern Orthodoxchurches celebrate the New Year.
January 1 represents the fresh start of a new year after a period of remembrance of the passing year, including on radio, television and in newspapers, which starts in early December in countries around the world. Publications have year-end articles that review the changes during the previous year. There are also articles on planned or expected changes in the coming year.
This day is traditionally a religious feast, but since the 1900s has become an occasion to celebrate the night of December 31, called New Year’s Eve. There are fireworks at midnight at the moment the new year arrives.
In European countries, the New Year is greeted with private fireworks. This day is also the occasion to make bonfires of discarded Christmas trees in some countries.
On New Year’s Day, people in certain countries gather on beaches and run into the water to celebrate the new year. In Canada, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands this is very popular. These events are sometimes known as polar bear plunges, and are sometimes organized by groups to raise money for charity. Polar Bear Clubs in many Northern Hemisphere cities near bodies of water, have a tradition of holding organized plunges on New Year’s Day.
In the United Kingdom there are many celebrations across the towns and cities, particularly in Scotland.
In London, England, thousands gather along the Embankment on the River Thames to watch the fireworks around the London Eye.
In Scotland, there are many special customs associated with the New Year. These are a part of the Scottish celebration Hogmanay, the Scots name for New Year’s Eve. The famous street party in Princes Street in Edinburgh is one example.
In Wales, Calennig is celebrated, with celebrations attracting thousands of people in the capital, Cardiff.
In Greece and Cyprus, families and relatives switch off the lights at midnight, then celebrate by cutting the “vassilopita” (Basil’s pie) which usually contains one coin or equivalent. Whoever wins expects luck for the whole year. After the pie, a traditional game of cards called “triantaena” (31) follows.
In Nassau, Bahamas, the Junkanoo parade takes place.
In the Philippines, fireworks, booming sound system as well as make a lot of noise with the belief that the noises would scare evil spirits away, preventing them from bringing bad luck to the coming new year. The tables are laden with food for the Media Noche or midnight meal, and there is a basket of 12 different round fruits to symbolize prosperity in each of the coming year’s 12 months. Public new year parties like those in New York and Sydney are also available to the people and very well attended.
In Russia and the other 14 former republics of the Soviet Union, the celebration of Old New Year or Novi God is greeted by fireworks and drinking champagne. The New Year is considered a family celebration, with a lavish dinner tables and gifts. In Moscow, the president of Russia normally counts down the final seconds of the “old year”, as it is called in Russia. The Kremlin’s landmark Spassky Clock Tower chimes in the new year and then the anthem starts. It is customary to make a wish while the Clock chimes, so you are anxious to do it in time!
In Davos, Switzerland, the final match of the Spengler Cup ice hockey Tournament is usually held on this day by tradition.
In the United States, it is traditional to spend this occasion together with loved ones. A toast is made to the new year, with kisses, fireworks and parties among the customs. It is popular to make a New Year’s resolution, although that is optional. In the country’s most famous New Year celebration in New York City, the 11,875-pound (5,386-kg), 12-foot-diameter (3.7-m) Times Square Ball located high above Times Square is lowered starting at 11:59 p.m., with a countdown from :10 seconds until :01, when it reaches the bottom of its tower. The arrival of the new year is announced at the stroke of midnight with fireworks, music and a live celebration that is broadcast worldwide.
In France, people concern much attention to the weather that day. They regard the weather as the prediction of that year: wind blowing east, fruit will yield; wind blowing west, fish and livestock will be bumper; wind blowing south, there will be good weather all year round and wind blowing north, there will be crop failure. People would like to toast for the new year and drink till January 3. They think that they can’t gain a beautiful year if they don’t drink up all the wine left last year.
The celebrations held world-wide on January 1 as part of New Year’s Day commonly include the following:
Parades
American football: In the United States, January 1 is the traditional date for many post-season college football bowl games, which are usually accompanied by parades and other activities to celebrate the events.
Football: In Europe, Association Football, where a Full Fixture program is usually played throughout the Premier League and the rest of the League/Non League system in England.
Ice hockey, most famously the Winter Classic in North America, a National Hockey League game that is played outdoors.
Concerts
Entertainment, usually enjoyed from the comfort of home.
Family time
Traditional meals
Church services
An annual dip in ice-cold water by hearty individuals, most famously by members of the Polar Bear Club.
In Brittany, a common image used is that of an incarnation of Father Time (or the “Old Year”) wearing a sash across his chest with the previous year printed on it passing on his duties to the Baby New Year (or the “New Year”), an infant wearing a sash with the new year printed on it.
In modern time and world-wide, the association of parenthood is with a baby’s arrival, with New Year’s Eve a father and mother together presenting their newborn child as the new year arrives and is celebrated.
People born on New Year’s Day are commonly called New Year babies. Hospitals, such as the Dyersburg Regional Medical Center in the U.S., give out prizes to the first baby born in that hospital in the new year. These prizes are often donated by local businesses. Prizes may include various baby related items such as baby formula, baby blankets, diapers, and gift certificates to stores which specialize in baby related merchandise.
Some churches celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on January 1, based on the belief that if Jesus was born on December 25, then according to Jewish tradition, his circumcision would have taken place on the eighth day of his life (January 1). The Catholic Church now calls this holy day of obligation the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as it’s been called since the 20th century, remains the most important social and economic holiday in China. Originally tied to the lunar-solar Chinese calendar, the holiday was a time to honor household and heavenly deities as well as ancestors. It was also a time to bring family together for feasting.
With the popular adoption in China of the Western calendar in 1912, the Chinese joined in celebrating January 1 as New Year’s Day. China, however, continues to celebrate the traditional Chinese New Year, although in a shorter version with a new name–the Spring Festival. Significantly, younger generations of Chinese now observe the holiday in a very different manner from their ancestors.
For some young people, the holiday has evolved from an opportunity to renew family ties to a chance for relaxation from work.
The following information is form Source:http://www.history.com/topics/chinese-new-year
Evolution of Spring Festival
The Western-style Gregorian calendar arrived in China along with Jesuit missionaries in 1582. It began to be used by the general population by 1912, and New Year’s Day was officially recognized as occurring on January 1. Beginning in 1949, under the rule of Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the government forbade celebration of the traditional Chinese New Year and followed the Gregorian calendar in its dealings with the West. But at the end of the 20th century, Chinese leaders were more willing to accept the Chinese tradition. In 1996, China instituted a weeklong vacation during the holiday–now called Spring Festival–giving people the opportunity to travel home and to celebrate the new year.
In the early 21st century, many Chinese families spent a significant amount of their discretionary income celebrating the Spring Festival with traditional symbols and food. They also spent time watching the televised Spring Festival Gala: an annual variety show featuring traditional and contemporary singers, dancers and magic demonstrations. Although the rites of the holiday no longer had religious value, people remained sensitive to the zodiacal animals to the extent that they considered what, for example, a year of the rat might mean for their personal fortunes or for a child born at that time.
A change in attitude toward the Spring Festival has occurred in China’s young people, with Chinese college students reporting that they prefer surfing the Internet, sleeping, watching TV or spending time with friends to celebrating with family. They also reported not liking traditional New Year food such as dumplings and glutinous rice pastry. With its change of name from Chinese New Year to Spring Festival, for some members of the younger generation the holiday has evolved from an opportunity to renew family ties to a chance for relaxation from work.
The Traditional Chinese New Year
San Francisco, California, claims its Chinese New Year parade is the biggest celebration of its kind outside of Asia. The city has hosted a Chinese New Year celebration since the Gold Rush era of the 1860s, a period of large-scale Chinese immigration to the region.
The Ancient Chinese Calendar
The ancient Chinese calendar, on which the Chinese New Year is based, functioned as a religious, dynastic and social guide. Oracle bones inscribed with astronomical records indicate that it existed at least as early as 14th century B.C., when the Shang Dynasty was in power. The calendar’s structure wasn’t static: It was reset according to which emperor held power and varied in use according to region.
The Chinese calendar was a complex timepiece. Its parameters were set according to the lunar phases as well as the solar solstices and equinoxes. Yin and yang, the opposing but complementary principles that make up a harmonious world, also ruled the calendar, as did the Chinese zodiac, the cycle of twelve stations or “signs” along the apparent path of the sun through the cosmos. Each new year was marked by the characteristics of one of the 12 zodiacal animals: the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
The Chinese New Year period began in the middle of the 12th month and ended around the middle of the first month with the waxing of the full moon. Observance of the New Year period was traditionally divided into New Year’s Eve and the first days of the new year.
Traditionally for the Chinese, New Year was the most important festival on the calendar. The entire attention of the household was fixed on the celebration. During this time, business life came nearly to a stop. Home and family were the principal focuses. In preparation for the holiday, homes were thoroughly cleaned to rid them of “huiqi,” or inauspicious breaths, which might have collected during the old year. Cleaning was also meant to appease the gods who would be coming down from heaven to make inspections. Ritual sacrifices of food and paper icons were offered to gods and ancestors. People posted scrolls printed with lucky messages on household gates and set off firecrackers to frighten evil spirits. Elders gave out money to children. In fact, many of the rites carried out during this period were meant to bring good luck to the household and long life to the family–particularly to the parents.
Most important was the feasting. On New Year’s Eve, the extended family would join around the table for a meal that included as the last course a fish that was symbolic of abundance and therefore not meant to be eaten. In the first five days of the New Year, people ate long noodles to symbolize long life. On the 15th and final day of the New Year, round dumplings shaped like the full moon were shared as a sign of the family unit and of perfection.