STAND & COMFORT Newsletter
Email NEWSLETTER #51 (Vol 3 No 18)
By Ed Tarkowski

Looking For New Year's Day Or "A New Day"?

I did some browsing to find out the facts about New Year's Day and its origins. Most often, I found that the practice of celebrating the New Year traces back to ancient Babylon (2000 BC). The Babylonian festival lasted eleven days (some say twelve) and coincided with the Spring equinox in March. The most common date I found in reference to these festivities was March 23rd, which introduced the planting of new crops for the year. I found this interesting quote referring to the celebration, which was termed "The Aktu Festival":

"In Babylon a New Year festival (the Akªtu festival) was celebrated in the spring, on Nisan 1-11. A ritual text for days 2-4 survives (ANET, pp. 331-34), but it is not comprehensive since it concerns only the role of the leading priest. Moreover it is not always reliable evidence for Babylonian practice of Israelite times, since it comes from the Seleucid period (third and second centuries bce). However, from it and other references to the festival, we know that the celebration included the following: recitation of the Babylonian Creation Epic to the statue of Marduk; purification of the temple; ceremony of renewal of the king's authority-including a ritual humiliation of the king; procession to the Akªtu house outside the city; probably a ritual drama there depicting Marduk's primordial victory over Tiamat, the chaos monster; upon return to the city, a ritual marriage (hieros gamos) of Marduk in the temple Esagila. It is doubtful that the king played the role of the god in these ceremonies, as is sometimes claimed, and it is almost certainly incorrect that the festival included a celebration of Marduk's death and resurrection. Elsewhere in Babylonia there is evidence also of autumn Akªtu festivals" (http://www.shef.ac.uk/~biblst/Department/Staff/BibsResearch/DJACcurrres/Postmodern1/NewYear.html citing On the Way to the Postmodern: Old Testament Essays 1967-1998, Volume 1
(JSOTSup, 292; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998), pp. 426-35, Originally published in The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Supplementary Volume (ed. K. Crim et al.; Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976), pp. 625-29, and reprinted with permission).

A discussion of the rites performed during these twelve days is found at "RITES OF THE BIT AKITU" (http://www.mindspring.com/~mysticgryphon/bitakitu.htm).

In another vein, there are quite a few references to the tranferrence of political authority on this day. It was the Roman emperors who established New Year's Day as the day when political authority was changed. Also during Roman rule, January 1st was established as New Year's Day. Here are two quotes from sites that discuss these changes to the calendar due to the emperors' tampering with the calendar from 153 to the times of Julius Caesar (46 bc):

"The Romans continued to celebrate New Year's in March, but the holiday soon became out of synch with the sun as different Emperors tampered with the calendar system. Astronomers were recruited by Julius Caesar to establish a new calendar, resulting in a 365-day year of 30 and 31-day months, except for February. It had 29 days, 30 every fourth year. Augustus made a small adjustment to the system, taking one of February's days for his own month, August.

"Julius Caesar set January 1 as New Year's in 46 BC. Fittingly, January was named after the Roman god, Janus. He was the god of beginning. Janus was usually pictured with two bearded heads placed back to back so that he might look to the past, as well as to the future" (http://www.historytelevision.ca/archives/xmas02/newyears/).

"In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year. The  acceptance of the changed date was delayed. This might be due to some of its arbitrary nature that we have already pointed out. The date was unusual. For, unlike the customs prevalent till then, no agricultural or seasonal significance was attached to it. Instead, it was just a civil date, the day after the elections when the consuls would assume their new positions in the Roman empire. But the bigger problem the changed date posed, was difficulties in the calculation of the year. As the Romans moved their New Year's Day backward almost three months to January 1, we have irregularities in our calendar. The months of September, October, November and December, originally mean, the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth month respectively. Later, many of the Roman emperors had given new names to these months. September received names as 'Germanucus', 'Antonius' and 'Tacitus' under each of these emperors' regime. Thus November also earned the varying names of 'Domitianus', 'Faustinus' and 'Romanus'.

"The inconveniences led Julius Caesar to institute a new calendar. It was devised by the Greek astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria from the unrivaled Egyptian solar calendar. Caesar wanted to change the date of the New Year from January 1 to a more logical date - to one of the solstices or equinoxes. However, it happened that January 1 of 45 B.C. was the date of a new moon and to change it would have been to invite bad luck according to the prevalent beliefs. In fact in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days" (http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/newyear/history.htm).

Later, the early Church opposed the practice of celebrating New Year's Day on January 1st, consigning it to the practices of paganism. This opposition was continued by the Roman Catholic church. The twilightbridge site gives this recap of the Catholic church's influence concerning New Year's Day:

"As the Catholic Church expanded, it was strongly opposed to the celebration of the Roman's New Year, and denounced it as paganism. However, as Christianity became more widespread, the religious observances of the Catholic Church began to coincide with many of the pagan celebrations. On January 1, while the Romans celebrated the New Year, the Catholic Church worshipped what is still observed by some denominations today as the Feast of Christ's Circumcision. The Church continued to condemn the celebration of the New Year throughout the Middle Ages. It wasn't until the late 1500s that January 1 became the official holiday celebrated by Western nations.

"It was Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 AD who incorporated our present method of calculation and dividing the year. It was the Pope who reinstituted the practice of observing New Year's Day on January 1, regardless of the pre-Christian associations with that date. The Gregorian reforms also canceled ten days from October; Thursday, October 4, 1582, was followed by Friday, October 15, 1582. The old discrepancy was provided for by making only those century dates leap years that were divisible by 400. Thus although the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, the 2000 is.

"The global adoption: Catholic countries adopted it soon. Yet it took some time for the Protestants to follow suit. Finally Germany did adopt it in 1700, Great Britain in 1752, and Sweden in 1753. It was then necessary to drop 11 days from the calendar because 1700 had been a leap year" (http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/newyear/history.htm).

In 1970, the Catholic Church superceded the celebration of the Feast of the Circumcision by "restoring" to January 1st "the Marian character of this feast":

"SOLEMNITY OF MARY, MOTHER OF GOD: THEOTOKOS - Pope Paul VI pronounced this special feast in 1970 to supercede the Feast of the Circumcision, which had been in vogue since early in the 6th Century. The Holy Father changed the feast to bring the Latin Calendar more into accord with Eastern tradition in the Byzantine Church which emphasizes the Marian character of this feast as the octave of Christmas. This is, however, not a new feast for it had been celebrated as early as the 5th Century on the Sunday before Christmas. Late in the 7th Century Pope Saint Sergius I introduced four new Marian feasts into the Church calendar with the Birth of Mary, the Annunciation, the Purification of Mary and the Assumption as well as celebrating the Maternity of Mary on the Octave of Christmas. It wasn't until the 14th Century that the Feast of the Circumcision was introduced and eventually squeezed out, so to speak, the Marian celebration. His Holiness Pope Paul VI stated in his encyclical Marialis Cultus, issued in 1974 'is meant to commemorate the part played by Mary in this mystery of salvation. It is meant also to exalt the singular dignity which this mystery brings to the "holy Mother...through whom we were found worthy...to receive the Author of life.'" The Holy Father took this occasion to also institute that a World Day of Peace be celebrated on this same day 'bringing forth fruits of peace in the hearts of many.' Seven years later Our Lady herself confirmed this union of her solemnity as the Mother of God and the fruits of peace when she began appearing in Medjugorje, proclaiming herself the 'Queen of Peace'" (http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/2000Dec/dec31lit.htm).

The celebration of New Year's Day has had a rough ride over the millennia. Even now, all countries do not observe January 1st as the beginning of the New Year. An interesting chart is found at http://www.celebratetoday.com/newyears.html which discusses celebrations throughout the entire year for "New Year's."

Does the Bible mention "New Year's Day"?

"Among the Jews the first day of the seventh month, Tishri (end of September), began the civil or economic year with the sound of trumpets (Lev., xxiii, 24; Num., xxix, 1). In the Bible the day is not mentioned as New Year's Day, but the Jews so regarded it, so named it, and so consider it now (Mishnah, Rosh Hash., I, 1). The sacred year began with Nisan (early in April), a later name for the Biblical abhibh, i.e. 'month of new corn', and was memorable because in this month the Lord thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night (Deut., xvi, 1). Barley ripens in Palestine during the early part of April; and thus the sacred year began with the harvest, the civil year with the sowing of the crops. From Biblical data Josephus and many modern scholars hold that the twofold beginning of the year was pre-exilic, or even Mosaic (cf. Antiq., I, iii, 3). Since Jewish months were regulated by the moon, while the ripening barley of Nisan depended upon the sun, the Jews resorted to intercalation to bring sun and moon dates into harmony, and to keep the months in the seasons to which they belonged (for method of adjustment, see Edersheim, The Temple, Its Ministry and Services at the Time of Jesus Christ, x)" (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11019a.htm).

Many Christians today associate the feast of Trumpets (civil new year) with the return of Christ when he establishes His reign upon the earth in a visible way.

The Bible does tell us when Noah entered the ark and mentions, in a different way, a new year's day:

Genesis 7:10  And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11  In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

Genesis 8:13  And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, IN THE FIRST MONTH, THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
14  And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

Noah, in his time and according to God's purpose, "removed the covering of the ark" to see dry ground. We can only imagine the exuberance he felt. But in this removal of the ark covering do we see a type of what we as Christians are to look for, a time when all things will become new? A New Year, so to speak - a New World, a New Beginning? At the least, New Year's Day should turn our minds to our Father's thoughts regarding a time to come when He will make all things new. As Christians, we look forward in anticipation of Christ's posttribulational return that introduces the millennium reign.

It is hard to look at the world as it places hope in a New Year to bring about peace, unity and prosperity, knowing that all its pursuits only bring about more problems that hinder what is being sought. But that's all the world has. What else would we expect it to do? Spiritually, we certainly cannot acknowledge the "Queen of Peace" of Catholicism, nor can we turn to old Babylonian traditions. Though not necessarily looking to Noah as a type of bringing in a New Year, the word "new" should certainly bring to mind what scripture says about Christ's return when He is revealed. Being "revealed," of course, means "to take off the cover, i.e. disclose." Christ will return and be revealed and God's true word will be fulfilled for all to see in the visible presence of Christ:

Revelation 21:5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Christ's return will be the culmination of a work already begun, to make all things new. His blood has been shed, His Spirit is present to indwell all who believe. Jesus is remaining in heaven until it is time for Him to return, when His glory will be uncovered for all to see. The call to all men continues to reach out for men to believe. All will culminate in His future reign upon the earth where all will become new. On that day, no one will even consider singing Auld Lang Syne because we will rejoice that the past is behind us and the future is nothing but glory in His presence:

Isaiah 66:22  For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23  And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
24  And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

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