Early New Year's Celebrations
The earliest recorded New Year's festivities date back to 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon. For them, the first new moon following the vernal equinox marked the start of a new year. They celebrated with a massive religious festival called Akitu. The festival lasted 11 days with a different ritual on each day. Civilizations around the world began to develop sophisticated calendars and each pinned their own date for the "New Year," which coincided with an agricultural or astonomical event. In Egypt, the year began with the annual flooding of the Nile and the Chinese new year started with the second new moon after winter solstice.
New Year's Day on January 1
Over the centuries, the Roman calendar eventually fell out of sync with the sun and Julius Caesar decided to solve the issue by consulting with the most prominent astonomers and mathematicions of his time. It was he that introduced the Julian calendar which closely resembles the Gregorian calendar that most countries still use today. As part of his reform, Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year, partly to honor the month's namesake, Janus the Roman god of beginnings. Romans celebrated by offering sacrifices to Janus, exhanging gifts with one another, decorating their homes with laurel branches and attending raucous parties. In midieval Europe, Christian leaders temporarily replaced January 1 as the first of the yar with days carrying more religious significance such as Devember 25 and March 25. However, in 1582, Pope grgory XIII reestablished January 1 as New Year's Day.
New Year's at Old Kinderhook
Join us at the Ice at Old Kinderhook for a day of family fun on December 31! The ice rink opens at 10 am and we'll be having cookies and a milk toast at Noon! Admission is $12 and includes skate rental, session fee, S'mores and Hot Cocoa, plus a complimentary milk toast with cookies. "Ring in the Noon Year" with us at The Ice at Old Kinderhook.
That evening we will be having a New Year's Eve bash for the adults featuring an Elvis impersonator. The event will begin at 9:30 pm and run until 12:30 AM! Dinner and drink features will be available prior to the event. Room features are $99 per bedroom and $79 for each additional night you'd like to stay. Enjoy a complimentary champagne toast at midnight. Contact 573-317-3560 for reservations.
Old Kinderhook wishes you a very Happy New Year! We hope to see you here to celebrate the beginning of a new year with us!
Source:
http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/new-years
Make Old Kinderhook Your Place at the Lake by calling 888-346-4949 today!
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