How To Learn the History of New Year’s Resolutions

Did you know that losing weight, getting out of debt and earning more money are among the top New Year's Resolutions made annually? Whether or not you have kept your New Year's Resolution this year or even remembered what it was, know that you are participating in a tradition that is thousands of years old.

New Year's Resolutions date back to the Babylonian civilization some 4,000 years ago.  The Babylonian calendar started on March 23rd with the arrival of spring and the planting of new crops, accompanied by the custom of returning something to a friend that had been borrowed from them in the previous year.

The Romans had a calendar that started on January 1, and featured the two-faced god Janus, capable of looking both forward as well as back. Janus became a symbol for the resolutions made at the start of the New Year, beginning with a resolution to ask forgiveness from an enemy made within the last year. The Romans also had as one of their resolutions to give a gift to a friend on New Year's Eve.

For Chinese civilizations, among the foremost resolutions made at the start of the New Year is to clean house from top to bottom in order to start the New Year fresh.

Since one of the most popular resolutions made worldwide is to enjoy more money in the coming year, each culture seems to have a New Year's activity to help support that resolution.

• The Chinese paint their front doors red, the color of luck and happiness. In addition, they put all knives away for New Year's Day so that no one in the family might mistakenly cut out the family's coming good fortune.
• The Japanese decorate their homes for New Year with a plum blossom, a pine branch and a bamboo stalk to attract the coming prosperity.
• The Norwegians serve rice pudding that contains a whole almond, and whomever's portion contains that almond gets tremendous wealth and luck for the coming year.
• Austrians will enjoy peppermint ice cream tinted green and shaped into a four-leaf clover for good money luck.
• And many Americans follow the Southern tradition of preparing black eyes peas called "Hoppin' John" on New Year's Day to symbolize good luck with money in the 12 months ahead.