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What is the history of New Year Resolutions

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[[File:Inanna shamash.jpg|thumb|Figure 1. The Akitu festival as depicted in a cylinder seal. ]]

Every year, many of us make New Year resolutions and, predictably, many of these resolutions are often not kept. While this seems to us as an annual ritual, the history of New Year resolutions is ancient and, just like today, people in the distant past likely struggled with their resolutions. In fact, they created incentives for people to follow through with their resolutions by invoking the gods.

====Early History====The oldest recorded New Year resolution dates to about 2000 BC from ancient southern Mesopotamia, in today's southern Iraq, where the New Year, which occurred at about March 20th in their calendar, would be celebrated in the so-called Akitu festival (Figure 1). The festival was about renewal and looking forward to the New Year. People made oaths to their king as part of this ritual; however, there were also more personal resolutions made. If people borrowed goods from their neighbours or others, they pledged to return those goods as part of their resolution. Debts were also to be repaid in the New Year and people were suppose to make oaths to the gods related to this to help them keep their resolution. Individuals would also likely sacrifice to their gods and would hope by keeping their word to fulfill their obligations then the gods would return favour upon them for a successful year. Rosh Hashanah, which literally means the head of the year, symbolizes not only the New Year but also the escape of the Hebrews from Egypt. The holiday is celebrated in the early autumn, already in ancient periods, as a New Year that was also seen as the beginning of the harvest period. It was also considered as a time of reflection and renewal, as it seen today. The Persian cultures would give each other eggs on New Year to wish each other good luck and to reflect on the New Year. Eggs symbolized a new beginning. Similarly, the Romans, after Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 45 BC and made January (or the god Janus) the official start of the year, celebrated the New Year by making resolutions. What was different about the Julian Calendar is it marked the first time January 1 was the official start of the year and later became the basis for the Western calendar. In fact, the god Janus, who was a god who looked backward and forward and occupied doorways and which reflected the entry of a new beginning symbolically for Romans, symbolized the arrival of the year and expectation for Romans (Figure 2). The New Year was seen as a time of reflection and promises by Romans to lead a better life. Sacrifices and offerings to the gods, and Janus in particular, would be made. It was also seen as a time of forgiveness and mistakes one perhaps made with others would be reconciled during the Near Year, making it a time of renewal.<ref>For more on early New Year celebrations and resolutions in ancient societies, see: Aveni, Anthony F. 2003. The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.</ref>

The oldest recorded New Year resolution dates to about 2000 BC from ancient southern Mesopotamia, in today's southern Iraq, where the New Year, which occurred at about March 20th in their calendar, would be celebrated in the so-called Akitu festival (Figure 1). The festival was about renewal and looking forward to the New Year. People made oaths to their king as part of this ritual; however, there were also more personal resolutions made. If people borrowed goods from their neighbours or others, they pledged to return those goods as part of their resolution. Debts were also to be repaid in the New Year and people were suppose to make oaths to the gods related to this to help them keep their resolution. Individuals would also likely sacrifice to their gods and would hope by keeping their word to fulfill their obligations then the gods would return favour upon them for a successful year. Rosh Hashanah, which literally means the head of the year, symbolizes not only the New Year but also the escape of the Hebrews from Egypt. The holiday is celebrated in the early autumn, already in ancient periods, as a New Year that was also seen as the beginning of the harvest period. It was also considered as a time of reflection and renewal, as it seen today. The Persian cultures would give each other eggs on New Year to wish each other good luck and to reflect on the New Year. Eggs symbolized a new beginning. Similarly, the Romans, after Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 45 BC and made January (or the god Janus) the official start of the year, celebrated the New Year by making resolutions. What was different about the Julian Calendar is it marked the first time January 1 was the official start of the year and later became the basis for the Western calendar. In fact, the god Janus, who was a god who looked backward and forward and occupied doorways and which reflected the entry of a new beginning symbolically for Romans, symbolized the arrival of the year and expectation for Romans (Figure 2). The New Year was seen as a time of reflection and promises by Romans to lead a better life. Sacrifices and offerings to the gods, and Janus in particular, would be made. It was also seen as a time of forgiveness and mistakes one perhaps made with others would be reconciled during the Near Year, making it a time of renewal.<ref>For more on early New Year celebrations and resolutions in ancient societies, see: Aveni, Anthony F. 2003. The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.</ref>

~~[[File:Inanna shamash.jpg|thumb|Figure 1. The Akitu festival as depicted in a cylinder seal. ]]~~

[[File:Janus-coin-416x419.jpg|thumb|Figure 2. Coin depicting Janus, who is the god of the New Year and first month of the year. ]]

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