Though the annual holiday has long passed, I will take the liberty of writing about it for the sake of those who might be planning to celebrate it next year.  Like most people my age (I will be 80 in April), I participated in New Year’s festivities in days of yore.  On January 1 businesses sponsor festive and televised New Year’s Day parades.  One athletic event of note is played on that day and televised globally.  I can remember when automobile dealerships waited until New Year’s Day to unveil their new models.  At the stroke of midnight on January 1 a televised event is watched by millions as a huge, glittering ball is lowered and fireworks fill the skies to symbolize the ending of one year and the beginning of the next.  New Year’s is still celebrated around the world with fireworks and much revelry.  Schools and colleges normally do not resume daily classes until New Year’s Day following the Christmas break.

Celebrating New Year’s Day has a long historical past.  In my part of the world during the 1940’s and 50’s the day was celebrated with a certain amount of festivity.  Some employers gave their employees the day off.  My people ate ham and black eyed peas on that day.  I  never knew why, but I remember my mother making sure that those food items were on the January 1 lunch menu.  I knew that the day had religious significance, but I was not sure as to why.  I now know why it is celebrated, which is the reason I am writing this series.

Historically, the New Year’s Celebration is the oldest of all holidays.  The ancient Babylonians were celebrating it some 4000 years ago as a day in which to be spiritually purified.  People wanted to amend their bad ways and to affect a new beginning.  It was from this heathen custom that making “new year’s resolutions” originated.  Many a pastor has advised his congregation to make their New Year’s Resolutions and to “… stick with them.”  Which everyone did–for a season–a very short season.  It was in the spirit of making New Year’s resolutions that the churches of old held twice-a-year “Revivals” during which time (usually one or two weeks) people would get religion, get “saved” and vow to walk the straight and narrow.  Which everyone did–for a season–a very short season.  I must admit I always “got religion” during our annual revivals.  It was during one of them that I supposedly “got saved.”  And stayed “saved”–for a season–a very short season.

In olden times the New Year’s festival was held at the beginning of the spring planting season (April/May) at which time farmers appealed to the gods to provide agricultural abundance.  As the pagan observance was passed down to succeeding generations it changed in character as well as in the customs associated with it.  The Greeks held a not-so-religious New Year’s festival in late March.  The early Romans held a similar celebration at the same time.

In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar changed the start of the new year from mid-spring to January 1.  The Romans observed the beginning of the New Year by engaging in drunken orgies involving wine and free sexual expression.  January 1 was a day to “let it all hang out,” to “throw caution to the winds,” and to practice an ancient version of “if it feels good, do it.”

About 500 years later Pope Gregory XIII abandoned the Julian calendar and established the calendar that is followed by the Western World unto this day.  Most people do not know that it was the Roman Catholic Church that established the beginning of the year in the middle of winter.  As is the case of so many of professing Christendom’s doctrines, beliefs and customs, it is assumed that, because church people have been celebrating New Year’s Day for some 2000 years, it must be “of the Lord.”  Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Originally, the celebration of the year’s beginning was marked by all manner of pagan activities, mass confusion and sexual perversion.  Little has changed as New Year’s is generally celebrated by engaging in spiritually destructive behavior.  God condemns such debauchery, calling them “works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19-21).

A professing Christian might reason that he/she doesn’t get involved in the fleshly spirit of the holiday, but merely wants to acknowledge the start of a new year and to get a fresh perspective on life.  However, God makes it clear in His Word that He condemns observance of the holiday in any fashion or for any reason.

Globally, there is disagreement over when the new year actually begins.  A few examples will show how much disagreement there is.  The Chinese and Vietnamese celebrate the new year at some point between January 20 and February 20.  The Sinhalese new year falls on April 13.  The Malayalam calendar places the new year in mid-August while the Ethio0pians hold their celebration in mid-September.

However, the Creator of all times and seasons is not the author of confusion (1 Cor. 14:33).  He makes it clear in His Law exactly when the new year begins according to His calendar which has been preserved by the Jews.  Like other things relative to the Lord’s Word such as His teachings concerning obedience to the Law, the Sabbath, observing the Holy Days, etc., we should be thankful to the Jews for retaining His Old Testament doctrines.  For this reason Jesus told the woman at the well: “Salvation is of the Jews.”  The problem with the Jews is that they have retained His sacrificial Law which was “added for transgressions (because of sins)” (Gal. 3:19).  The blood sacrifice for sins was done away with by Jesus during the Last Supper (Mat. 26:26-29).  Religious men, under the power of Satan, have used His Words to “prove” that the entire Law was “nailed to the cross.”  This is a Satanic lie.  In that the Law defines sin (1 Jn. 3:4), where there is no Law there is no sin.  By doing away with the Law, man has done away with sin.  Without God’s Law to define sin, man has concocted his own rules of behavior.  Convenient, but deadly.  Read The Law: Nailed to the Cross or Written in the Heart? Key term–“Nailed.”  L.J.