New Year

[Lisa4NH]

Hi, I was wondering whether there's a specific way that Christians celebrate new year, or whether everyone just does different things? If Christians do something, then what is it? Why do Christians Celebrate new year? Pls help. Cheers. xxx

[Pies]

Yup we all get absolutely sh*t faced

It's a tradition passed down through the eons

[woofgang]

well one church of England tradition is to have a watchnight service and ring the new year in with a peal of bells

[jno]

I don't think it's ultimately a religious ceremony, though it's related to midwinter festivals when the days start to get longer again. (Christmas itself is one of these - Jesus wasn't born on December 25, the church just found it easier to hijack a pagan festival that already existed than to impose a new one.) Plus it's the obvious time for everyone to celebrate the time the numbers on the calendar change (as opposed to birthdays, which are individual celebrations) - surprisingly, it was only about 300 years ago that January became the first day of the year; until then as I recall they started in April, much like the tax year now.

[spudqueen]

Yes, until a couple of hundred years ago the New Year was in March and you can sometimes see dates written with the two years eg 28th February 1772/3. The tax year started at the same time as the new year but when we changed calendars and lost (was it 17 days?) the tax year still had 365 days in it and so started the next tax year on April 5th, which still stands today. I'm sure someone will come on and give exact dates etc, I'm doing this from memory.

[NiceCupOfTea]

That must be why Aries is the first horoscope sign - March/April birthdates.

[Cetti]

It sounds like a real cry for help Lisa, but I'm not too sure what you are actually looking for, unless woofgang has already answered it. Ah, I see what you mean, no, there's no special way - everyone does whatever they want. New year is a new start (hopefully) although being a Christian every day is a new beginning. I do hope that doesn't sound pompous - it wasn't meant to!

We celebrated last new year with a bottle of champagne and eating liqueur choccies whilst watching Jools Holland on the box. This year we might dress up in fancy dress and do something a little more exciting like dancing round the statue of George III in Weymouth at midnight with a few hundred other revellers!

[ianess]

I don't think that New Year has any religious significance but I do like Pies answer. Cold,dark,miserable, and the worst of the winter still yo come we all need cheering up at the start of a year.

Christmas is based on the coming of the Sun after the Solstice [days start to get longer] but the Druid festivities were hijacked by the Christian religion to celebrate the coming of the Son of God.

Just noticed jno's post....sorry about the duplication.