When and Where to Celebrate the New Year

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 When and Where to
Celebrate the New Year

I will start this story with a riddle. When do we say “hello” and “good-bye” at the same time? The obvious answer is when the clock strikes midnight on December 31st. Traditionally, the New Year signifies the end of a previous year and the beginning of a new one. But when does the year actually begin? The answer will differ if you are a religious Jew or Russian or Chinese Orthodox. This can be confusing because not everyone follows the Western or Christian calendar. To simplify matters, the Gregorian calendar, which was first introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, in February 1582 C.E., became the internationally accepted civic calendar. Prior to this, there was the Julian calendar, which was introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C.E. However in 67 C.E., the Council of Tours declared that starting the year on January 1st was an ancient mistake that should be abolished. The beginning of the count is supposed to be from the birthdate of Jesus Christ, but he was actually born around 7 B.C. (I found all this information in an article online titled, “History of Our Calendar”). How about the date for Christmas, December 25th, which is supposed to be Jesus’ birthdate? If this is the case, why does the New Year start eight days later, on January 1st? One of the reasons is that this is the day on which a Jewish boy named Jehoshua (later known as Jesus Christ) was circumcised. For a very long time (from 1568 to 1596), this event was celebrated as the 1st of January feast, called “The Circumcision of the Lord and the Octave of the Nativity”. I suspect that you probably did not know about all of those facts, but they are a very good illustration of how different opinions, stories and traditions have formed our way of life. The same is true with the tradition of celebrating New Year’s Eve. Some like to wait until midnight to drink Champagne and yell with joy, in the anticipation that the next year is going to be better than the previous one. Unfortunately, according to a AAA estimate, during the holidays travel period at the end of the year, 27,900 Americans will be seriously injured in auto accidents. Therefore, our family chose a different way to greet 2016 – quietly. Our original plan was to stay home, but on December 30th, our daughter Alona, who was visiting us from Paris, suggested going to our favorite place – The Sea Ranch. We were fortunate to find the last house available to rent for the holiday weekend.

But we do have a tradition for this special date in the year, which is to wear something new. It can be socks or underwear, or any other item of clothing. This year, my wife Elfa wore new shoes and I wore my new 36″ pants. The other tradition is to reflect on the past 12 months, and ask ourselves how we would like the next 12 months to look. As I wrote last week, I write down my goals every day. However, January 1st is a good day to set the course for the next year (but you can do that on any day of the year). The Russian proverb states, “Horosheye nachalo pol dela otkochalo”, which means “Well begun is half done”. Whatever traditions are yours, Enjoy and Share.

P.S. To remember our experience in The Sea Ranch, I photographed the last sunset of 2015 and the first sunrise of 2016. Luc and his son Ian, the first people I met in the New Year, helped make the beginning of the New Year very special.

Enjoy and Share!

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Cheers,

Manny<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />                                                               Signature