“New Year, New Me!”

You might have heard the phrase before that goes along the lines of “New Year, new me.” Or maybe you’ve heard your co-worker or neighbor say that their new year resolution is going to be losing weight. Why is New Year’s Eve such a big deal? Well, let’s back up and think of how it started shall we?  New Year’s Eve is a celebration that happens on December 31st. The day before a new year and a fresh start on the calendar begins. You might have celebrated this day for as long as you can remember but you probably weren’t aware that it dates back some 4000 years ago to ancient Babylon (History). The Babylonians held huge religious festivals that also included different rituals. In present times, it is now common for people to have New Year parties, and (unless you are part of a cult) most likely, there are no rituals involved.

A typical new years party may include champagne/alcoholic beverages, fun games, a lot of socializing, and if you’re lucky, beautiful fireworks! Another worthy mention of the New Year is the Times Square Ball Drop. An estimated one million and more people gather to watch the Times Square ball drop. Not only that, those who attend get to watch performances, and overall have a great time. However, if you’re like me and can’t afford to buy a ticket to fly to New York, you have other so-so (maybe not as fun) alternatives. There are live streams of The  New Year’s Eve celebrations that you can watch online. This year you can watch the webcast through The Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment. I would also strongly recommend you to watch this event unfold via YouTube. If you want to watch just one specific part or performance, it’s fairly easy to do so.

On New Year’s eve, there are many traditions. Some of those include: decorating a new years tree, kissing someone at midnight, eating grapes, giving toasts, etc. One of the traditions that I would like to elaborate more on is the one that includes eating grapes. It is the most memorable and probably the only tradition I have tried to participate in. This Spanish tradition says that you have to eat 12 grapes at midnight. You eat one with each clock bell strike. I honestly don’t think that  I’ve been doing it right but I still try.  I would like to add a disclaimer: I do not encourage or promote for you to shove 12 grapes down your throat. Please don’t do that, because you don’t want to start the new year at a hospital.

With that being said, everyone has a different way of celebrating their New Year. As a matter of fact, some people might not even celebrate it and that’s okay. Whether we celebrate it or not, we are all part of a new year. Thank you if you have made it this far into my blog. I hope that you have a happy new year, and can maybe try something new. I don’t know about you, but personally, this year I am grateful for being able to make it past this chaotic year of 2021. At the end of every year, it feels like it went by extremely fast. We have all had very memorable events that will follow us as memories into upcoming years.

To me, New Year’s Eve is about reflecting on your growth as a person and being thankful for making it this far. This year, I am excited and hopeful for the memories that are yet to come in the future.

Learn more about the history of New Year
More info about Time Square
Watch the ball drop: TimesSquareNYC.org and TimesSquareBall.net.
Fun New Year’s Eve traditions to try out!