The Meaning of the New Year’s Holid

The Meaning of the New Year’s Holiday

by Ilisha on December 31, 2012 in Anti-Loons
Circumcision Fresco
Circumcision of Christ, fresco from the Preobrazhenski Monastery, Bulgaria
by Ilisha

I’ve always thought of New Year’s as a purely secular holiday, widely celebrated with champagne, confetti, and kisses at midnight. In the US, the most famous New Year’s celebration centers on the drop of the Times Square Ball in New York City, an event that attracts an audience of over a billion worldwide.

If it had any religious significance at all, I might have guessed it was a tribute to Dionysis, the Greek god of wine and revelry. Or perhaps to Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and transitions, after which the month of January is named.