The Weird History of the New Year

[00:00:06] Hello, hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back to Weird World Adventures, the podcast. I'm your host, Mallory, and I'm here to show you just how weird this world of ours really is. [00:00:16] And it's that time to say happy New year. [00:00:20] New Year's 2026 brings a new season of Weird World Adventures on Amazon Prime. So stay tuned as we announce that release. We're just turning in the final deliverables now. Y and be sure to check out mallorysadventures.com where we have a whole bunch of new blog posts for you every day. And I figure to start the new year right, we're going to talk about some of the strange and weird history of New Year's Eve and New Year's celebrations. [00:00:49] So does anyone know where the first recorded New Year celebration took place? [00:00:54] It was in the city of Babylon in Mesopotamia about 4000 years ago. So this tradition of welcoming in the new has been in a lot of our history. [00:01:05] The first king that actually changed the date to accept January 1st as a day for New Year's was Julius Caesar in 46 BC. [00:01:15] Prior to Caesar, Romans celebrated it in March. [00:01:19] The tradition of kissing to start the new year was started by the Romans. [00:01:24] So is the Romans to celebrate Saturnalia festival? Saturn is the Roman God of time. So bringing in the new year obviously was a good celebration to Saturn. And that's where the kissing came from. [00:01:38] Kissing someone at midnight is said to come from the idea that doing so will prevent loneliness during the coming year and also to ward off evil spirits. [00:01:47] So I guess apparently the more you kiss, the more you're going to be safe from all of the evils out there. [00:01:54] England and the American colonies officially adopted January 1st as the beginning of the new year in 1752. [00:02:03] The young baby as a symbol of the new year, I guess bringing in birth in something new dates back to the ancient Greeks. The old year was referred to as Father Time. I don't know if you guys remember that Rankin Bass special, Rudolph. Shiny New Year. That was my least favorite one. But it did have Father Time and the new baby New Year. [00:02:24] So that's a thing. [00:02:26] Celebrating the first baby of the New Year has been a symbol of the holiday since 600 BC, starting in Greece, when an infant was paraded around in a basket in celebration of Dionysus, the God of fertility and wine. [00:02:40] Also the God of theater. I know a lot of thespians celebrated with Dionysus. [00:02:47] The tradition for fireworks began in ancient China in the second century for the Chinese New Year. And then we've adopted it from there until 755. The French began the new year on December 25th. Weirdly enough, Christmas. And then moved it to March 1st and in the 1100s moved it to East Easter. [00:03:09] And King Charles IX declared January 1st as the start of the new year in 1564. [00:03:15] In snowier places like Alaska, Inuit tribes celebrate the New Year with the arrival of the first snow. [00:03:23] And what do you guys think now as we make our resolutions? The most common resolution is for the New Year. [00:03:31] I bet you most of you said it's to get healthier because that is the main one is to get healthier. [00:03:38] It's estimated that 80% of New Year's resolutions are abandoned by February each year. That's kind of sad. I don't know. I like to stick with my convictions on these resolutions. So 80% by February, that's not a good number. [00:03:54] Some believe you shouldn't pay off debts right before New Year's or you will be in debt the entire following year. That's an interesting tradition there. Or beliefs. [00:04:06] Some believe that what you dream just before the New Year predicts what the New Year will bring to you. [00:04:13] Does anyone know when the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration started? [00:04:19] It actually started in 1904 with a fireworks show. [00:04:23] But then this was banned because I feel like fireworks in New York City is probably not a great idea. So that's when the ball dropping tradition began and that was in 1907. [00:04:34] The ball dropping to signal the passing of time actually dates back to 1833 when a ball was installed on the top of England's Royal Observatory at Greenwich to help ship captains navigate. [00:04:47] The Times Square ball that's become famous for New Year's is 12ft long as a sphere. So 12 foot sphere and weighs 11,875 pounds and is covered in 2,688 Waterford crystals. [00:05:05] And it's illuminated by 32,256 LEDs. [00:05:12] The original ball was actually made of iron and wood and adorned with 125 watt light bulbs and was only 5ft in diameter, weighing 700 pounds. And to fill Times Square to watch the ball drop. It's generally estimated that about 1 million people will fill Times Square for that. [00:05:35] Toasting with champagne at the New Year became popular between 1800 and 1850 as more champagne was ordered for ship christenings and New Year's celebrations. [00:05:46] In Miami, a 35 foot neon lit orange rises on the Intercontinental Hotel for New Year. That's interesting. [00:05:54] At the Hershey Press building in Pennsylvania, you can guess. A 300 pound 7 foot tall Hershey Kiss rises three stories for the new year. [00:06:05] Atlanta drops a giant peach. That makes sense. [00:06:09] Main drops a big sardine. [00:06:12] Okay. [00:06:13] In Arizona, a giant tortilla chip descends into a massive bowl of salsa. Well, that one I have to see. [00:06:21] In Nashville, Tennessee, a large musical note drops in Music City. That checks out. [00:06:27] And then Pennsylvania has a number of unusual drops. In Lebanon, a hundred pound bologna. [00:06:36] In Dillsburg, an eight foot paper mache pickle. [00:06:40] In Falmouth, a giant stuffed goat. And Wilkes bar, a replica of coal turns into a diamond as it descends. That's pretty, pretty cool. So there's some really interesting celebrations out there. But let's dive more into some of the weird history of New Year's. The earliest recorded festivities, which we mentioned, go back to ancient Babylon 4,000 years ago. For the Babylonians, the first new moon following the vernal equinox, the day in late March with an equal amount of sunlight and darkness, heralded the start of the new year. They marked the occasion with a massive religious festival called Aikitu, derived from the Sumerian word for barley, which was cut in the spring. And it involved a different ritual on each of its 11 days. [00:07:27] In addition to the new year, Atiku celebrated the mythological victory of the Babylonian sky God Marduk over the evil sea goddess Tiamat and served an important political purpose. It was during this time that the new king was crowned, or the current ruler's divine mandate was symbolically renewed. Civilizations around the world developed increasingly sophisticated calendars, typically pinning the first day of the year to an agricultural or an astronomical event. [00:07:56] In Egypt, for instance, the year began with the annual flooding of the Nile, which coincided with the rising of the star Sirius. [00:08:03] The first day of the lunar new year, meanwhile, occurred with the second new moon after the winter solstice. So when did January 1 become officially new Year's Day? We already said it was the Romans. The Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and 304 days, with each new year beginning at the vernal equinox. According to tradition, it was created by Romulus, the founder of rome, in the 8th century BC. [00:08:30] A later king, Numa, is credited with adding the months of Januaryus and Februarius. [00:08:37] Over the centuries, the calendar fell out of sync with the sun. So in 46 BC, as we mentioned before, Julius Caesar decided to solve the problem by consulting with the most prominent astronomers and mathematicians of his time. He introduced the Julian calendar, which closely resembles the more modern Gregorian calendar that most countries around the world use today. [00:08:58] As a part of his reform, Caesar instituted January 1st as the first day of the year, partly to honor the month's namesake, Janus, the Roman God of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future. [00:09:14] Romans celebrated by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with one another, decorating their homes with laurel branches and attending very raucous parties. [00:09:24] In medieval Europe, Christian leaders temporarily replaced January 1st as the first of the year with December 25th, the anniversary of Jesus birth, and March 25th, the feast of the Annunciation. [00:09:41] And then it was brought back to January 1st in 1582. [00:09:46] So in many countries, New Year's celebration begins on the evening of December 31, New Year's Eve, and continues into the early hours of January 1st. [00:09:57] Obviously, you know how that works. Now everyone enjoys meals and snacks to bestow good luck for the coming year. In Spain and several other Spanish speaking countries, people bolt down a dozen grapes symbolizing their hopes for the months ahead right before midnight. I like that. And in many parts of the world, traditional New Year's dishes feature legumes which are thought to resemble coins and herald a future financial success. [00:10:22] Examples include lentils in Italy and black eyed peas in the United States. Which is funny because I've never done that. I don't think I've known anyone that's done that. [00:10:32] Because pigs represent progress and prosperity in some cultures, pork appears on a lot of New Year's Eve tables, especially in Cuba, Austria, Hungary and Portugal. [00:10:43] Ring shaped cakes and pastries, the sign that the year has come into a full circle, round out feast in the Netherlands, Mexico, Greece and elsewhere in Sweden and Norway. Rice pudding with an almond hidden inside is served on New Year's Eve. It is said that whoever finds the nut can expect 12 months of good fortune. [00:11:04] Other customs that are common worldwide, of course are fireworks and singing songs to welcome in the new year. [00:11:11] The practice of making resolutions for the New Year is thought to have first caught on with the Babylonians. They made promises in order to earn favor of the gods and start the year off on the right foot. [00:11:24] They would reportedly vow to pay off their debts and return borrowed farm equipment. And of course, we talked about the ball drop. 1907 was the official ball drop. [00:11:35] Over time it ballooned from a 700 pound iron and wood orb like we talked about, to this gigantic 12 foot diameter sphere weighing almost 12,000 pounds. [00:11:47] So however you brought in the New year this year I hope it was wonderful and I hope it was weird and perfect in all the right ways. [00:11:59] I will say that my 2025 was a lot. [00:12:04] I took on way more than I should have. I have a problem saying no to things, which is why Weird World is still not fully out yet. But we'll be here very soon. [00:12:16] I wound up writing and completing three full books this year, with a fourth one on the way. [00:12:24] And obviously we filmed and edited 12 new episodes for Weird World Adventures on Amazon prime for season two. [00:12:33] And you know, that just took a lot out of me. I'll say. This year I really learned my limits. [00:12:40] I definitely feel more tired than I ever have before. [00:12:44] I definitely spent many a late night out working late until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. [00:12:50] Writing non stop until it was too much and I would fall asleep at my computer. So that's definitely not how I want to remember 2026. [00:13:00] So while I'm very proud of all of the work that I did in 2025, I'm ready to leave that behind. I. I feel very accomplished. There'll be a lot of releases this year and for 2026, I really want to commit to my family and friends. I want to commit to being present. [00:13:18] It's the first time ever I've actually just stopped myself and halted to say, nope, you need to focus on you and you need to focus on having a life. And I'm very happy and proud to do that. So I'm excited to move into 2026, focused on the things that matter and being there for my family and being there for my friends and taking the time for myself and being able to rest and play and see people again. I'm very much looking forward to that and I would love to hear what your resolutions are. [00:13:50] Please feel free to leave a message, a comment, reach out on social media and let me know what your resolutions are this year. [00:13:58] I know it said that, you know, the most common one is to get healthy and that's kind of what I'm saying now and it's the first time I've said it, but I, I truly mean that. And I think it's a beautiful resolution to be able to take the time to focus on yourself and taking care of yourself. [00:14:14] And I'm really excited to share Weird World Adventure Season two with you guys here very soon. It's almost done. We have so many incredible things to showcase for it. From Romania to New Orleans to, to Salem, gosh, to all over. Some of the interesting places like Centralia, Pennsylvania, the Richmond Science Museum for Body Worlds, the Day of the Dead in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, Germany, all over the Germany fairy tale route. That one's going to be fantastic. [00:14:55] Back to Richmond to follow in the footsteps of Edgar Allan Poe. [00:14:59] We did California, we did Las Vegas, we went to Iceland, we went to the Great Smoky Mountains, and we ended in Washington, D.C. so we had a really full, incredible year of adventures for this season. [00:15:16] And I'm very happy we did that and we were able to put that together for all of you. [00:15:21] So please stay tuned for that announcement. And we're actually coming up very soon this year on the hundredth episode of Weird World Adventures, so. So stay tuned for some special announcements for that. I'm really excited that the podcast has been growing and continuing as it has for 100 episodes, so stay tuned for that announcement. Stay tuned for the release of Weird World Adventures on Amazon Prime. Again, please let me know what your resolutions are. Feel free to reach out and let me know stuff you'd like to hear about on the podcast, too. [00:15:53] Thank you guys for tuning in today. Happy New Year again. And until next time, everybody stay weird.