History

history Meeting the New Year with Resolution

HAVE YOU MADE YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS YET? EVEN THOUGH THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS HAVE BEEN STRANGE TO SAY THE LEAST, IT'S LIKELY YOU'VE ALREADY THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT THEY BE

By Mike George

Mike George is our regular contributor on wildlife and the countryside in France. He is a geologist and naturalist, living in the Jurassic area of the Charente

Many people make them each year, but the folks that enjoy compiling statistics tell us that, of the 45% who make them, only 8% have any success at keeping them long-term – most never make it beyond January 1st. What is New Year anyway? Mankind is ruled by a consciousness of the passage of time. However, this perception has two basic perceptions: the cycle of time, where observable phenomena travel in circles, like the seasons; and the arrow of time, which runs in a straight line where things get older, and “Change and decay in all around I see”. The latter could be said to start at birth, but the former, being a cycle, has no beginning and no observable end. The year is a cycle, so “starting” a year is a purely arbitrary matter. Most civilizations have set the “start” of the year at a point when agriculture for that year could begin. This was spring, and guessing when spring starts is, as we all know, not easy. Because Mankind is partial to predictable events, many years began at the first full moon after the spring equinox. A competent astronomer could decide when the day and night were the same length, or on which day the points at which the sun crossed the horizon at dawn and at sunset were exactly opposite each other (which comes to the same thing). Everybody can recognise a full moon! (If this sounds familiar, that is because it is how the date for Easter is decided, and that is done because it is linked to the Jewish Passover, which is fixed in the same way.) Other civilizations did it differently; the Ancient Egyptians, who relied on the annual flooding of the Nile for the start of their productive agriculture, linked their New Year to the appearance in the night sky of the star we now call Sirius, which coincided (by chance) with the usual date of inundation. This occurred in mid-July. In modern times, the major civilization using a lunar fix for their New Year is China. How did the rest of us end up with January 1st? The first people to set up scientific bases for time were the Babylonians, who lived in Mesopotamia. About 1700 BC, Babylon rose from a tiny, insignificant town-state to dominate (briefly) the Middle East under its astonishingly enlightened ruler Hammurabi. He ruled for about 40 years, and after his death Babylon sank into insignificance for some centuries, to reemerge about the time the Israeli nation was fighting for survival, which is why we know a fair bit about them from the Old Testament. His enlightened reign allowed science to enjoy an early flourishing. The Babylonians had a system of calculation based on the number 60. This is why they had 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 360 days in a year (well, they couldn’t get everything right!). So the basis for time-division was set, and apart from the length of the year, nothing needed changing. It was the length of the year that caused the real problem. Enter Julius Caesar. He was determined to tackle the problem, and sort it out once and for all instead of leaving everybody to make their own adjustments. He assembled some top astronomers and mathematicians and they made the necessary calculations, and decided that the year needed to be 365¼ days long,

managed by having a year 366 days long every fourth year. The shortcomings of this system didn’t show up for some centuries. A date for starting the year needed fixing, especially as the Lunar calendar had been superseded. Julius Caesar was a great fan of the god Janus. This god had two faces, so looked before and behind - very symbolic of the start of the year. Also he was a god of warfare. When Rome was at peace, the gates to the Temple of Janus in Rome were kept closed, but when Rome declared war on somebody, the gates were opened and stayed open until the war ended. Under Julius Caesar, the temple gates were open most of the time, which was how Julius liked it! So he decided that the year would begin on the first day of the month of Janus (Januarius), and since he was Julius Caesar, it did! And still does. There were adjustments needed to get time exactly right, but they took many centuries to complete and there were a lot of civil problems to solve. One day I may tell you that story. It is part of Mankind’s make- But what about the Resolutions? up to involve himself in his I hoped you had forgotten them! It is part world, and thus a new of Mankind’s make-up to involve himself beginning requires some sort in his world, and thus a new beginning of commitment. requires some sort of commitment. If you think I am sneering at my own generation, I must point out that, as far as we know, our friends the Ancient Babylonians, some 4000 years ago, were the first to make a big thing of resolutions at the New Year. They used the “Moon and Equinox” technique to fix the start of the year, but when they did start it, they made a practice of vowing to pay all their debts and return anything they had borrowed to its rightful owner. Thus they hoped to gain the favour of their chief god (Marduk). If they did all they had promised, their crops would grow and they themselves would prosper. If they did not fulfil their vow,

Julius Caesar, pointing the way to a new calendar

they would suffer misfortune throughout the year. Also at their New Year, the Babylonians had a strange ritual, called Akitu, which involved humiliating the king. He would be brought before a statue of Marduk, and would be stripped of his royal apparel and made to swear that he had ruled Babylon with honour. The High Priest would then slap him and tug him by the ears until he cried. His tears were taken to indicate that Marduk had been satisfied and had agreed that the king’s rule was extended for another year. Hammurabi must have been a good crier; as we have seen, he ruled for some 40 years! The Ancient Egyptians saw the New Year, or Wepet Renpet as they called it, as a time of re-birth and regeneration. In a good year, in July the Nile would flood, bringing new fertile sediment with it to cover their crop-bearing lands. Thus their “Black land” (Khemet) was renewed. If this did not happen, famine was likely. You can read about this in the Old Testament story of Joseph, who predicted a famine from Pharaoh’s dream. You will see that the fat cattle and the thin cattle, which represented respectively plenty and famine, “came up out of the river”. It seems that the Egyptians may well have been the instigators of certain other rituals familiar to us at New Year. Recent discoveries suggest that, in the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, the first month of the year played host to a “Festival of Drunkenness” to commemorate the delivery of Mankind from the capricious goddess Sekhmet, who had decided on Mankind’s destruction. Ra, the chief god, tricked her into overindulging in beer until

The doublefaced Roman god Janus, who oversaw gateways and therefore the New Year.

she passed out, and when she woke up (undoubtedly seriously hung-over) she had forgotten the idea. The Romans celebrated New Year initially by being nice to each other and exchanging simple gifts of fruit, food and drink. After a very short time, however, the incumbent Emperor got in on the act, and expected rather more lavish gifts. A basket of figs or a branch from the Sacred Tree would not suffice now. Nero even set up a special system whereby he received the gifts and his scribes recorded the giver, the gift – and its value! Similar rituals can be traced down the centuries. Mostly these involve cleansing the home, making sure evil spirits are expelled and kept out, repaying debts and loans, and in some cases, trying a bit of divination in the hope of seeing who your future bride or groom might be. And, of course, celebrating the fruits of the vine and the brewer’s efforts. There is some evidence that, at mediaeval court banquets when exotic birds were served, knights would make a vow, over the carcase of the most regal bird present, to maintain their loyalty to their chivalric vows and to strive to be good knights. Suitable birds were peacocks or pheasants. These were skinned whole, dressed and cooked then re-dressed in their finery and served with the beak gilded and sometimes even a piece of flaming brandysoaked bread in the beak. The vow would be made before undressing the bird and carving it, and then the distribution of the meat would ensure that everyone was a witness to the vow. Sometimes a swan

John Wesley, founder of Methodism and re-instigator of New Year Resolutions Sekhmet, Egyptian goddess of war, who had to be made sufficiently drunk to stop her destroying Mankind

PULL

would be regarded as the regal bird. The ceremony was described in a 14th century French book, the Voeux du Paon (The Peacock Vow). Whether this ceremony was a New Year vow or just happened at any time is open to question. Sadly, those who have eaten peacock report that the flesh is not particularly pleasant, but I suppose one cannot expect everything! Resolutions as such, though, seem to have fallen from the plan. Then in the 18th century John Wesley came with his Methodist Church, and, to counteract the lack of direction in all that he saw, instituted the Covenant Renewal

Service at New Year, where his followers were encouraged to assess their shortcomings over the previous year, and with faith and prayer – and a few good hymns – to resolve to do better in the year to come. The modern Watch Night Service is a remnant of this form of worship. Thus, probably unconsciously, Wesley took a leaf out of Babylon’s book nearly 40 centuries earlier. As Methodism spread, the concept of New Year Resolutions spread with it. However, like so many good ideas, it got a bit out-ofhand, and folks often set themselves impossible goals to achieve, and of course lost heart and self-esteem when they failed. So, aim for achievable goals if you want to make resolutions. Giving up chocolates, smoking or drinking, while laudable, requires more self-discipline and perseverance than most of us possess unaided. But whatever you do, may I wish you a happy, prosperous and above all a healthy New Year.