What is New Year’s and When is it celebrated, and how is it Celebrated?
Now that 2023 is coming to an end, most of us look forward to starting a whole new year! Before we ring in 2024, let’s get some facts about New Year’s. In most places, New Year’s Day is the first day of the year. It celebrates both the success of the past year and the hopes of the coming year with religious, cultural, and social observances around the world. The start of the year is celebrated on January 1st, according to the Gregorian calendar. The end of the previous year, New Year’s Eve, is celebrated on December 31st. This holiday is celebrated all over the world! It is a national holiday in the United States. The celebration starts out the night before on New Year’s Eve. This night is a night of parties and fireworks! There are large gatherings such as dropping the ball at Times Square in New York City. Many people have parties with their friends and family where they will count down to the new year. Another tradition for this day is to make New Year’s resolutions! These are promises to yourself on how you will do something different or better in the coming year.
History Behind New Year’s
New Year’s wasn’t always celebrated on January 1st. The earliest New Year festivities date back about 4,000 years (2000 B.C). At that time, the people of ancient Babylon began their new year in what we now call March. They would have an 11-day festival to celebrate the beginning of spring. They would also celebrate the fact that crops were being planted for the coming year. The calendar that we use today is known as the Gregorian calendar. It was introduced 400 years ago by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. He declared once and for all that January 1st should be New Year’s Day. Since then the western world has celebrated the start of the year on the first day of January.
223 Voices
Now, let’s hear from Class of ‘26 in the 223 community about their 2024 New Year’s Resolutions and how will they approach their resolutions for the coming year
Sophomore student at HS 223, Agrina Perez Ramires, “Some goals I have for the upcoming year is getting good grades.”
Ramires plans to approach her 2024 resolutions by, “working on developing good study habits for next year so that way I can get good grades and be less overwhelmed with school.”
Sophomore student at HS 223, Dulce Maria Gutierrez, “Since I made a lot of new friends this year compare to when I first came to this school, I’d say that I need to practice my time management more so that I’m not abandoning the friends that I made but I’m also focusing on the things that I want to do for myself.
Guitierrez also states how she will plan to approach her 2024 resolution goals by “planning on being stricter with myself and having a more planned out schedule throughout the year so that I can become successful and have better opportunities later in life.”
New Year’s resolutions and traditions are such a special part of ringing in the new year. It’s the perfect time to reflect on the past and set goals for the future. It’s all about embracing hope, new beginnings, and making cherished memories. May the new year be filled with joy, success, and fulfillment, and may the resolutions we set pave the way for a year that exceeds our wildest dreams. Happy New Years!
