5th January 2025
The dawn of a New Year is the time to pen down your plans & resolutions for the year ahead.
But we are no different as the concept of New Year Resolutions actually go back to ancient times!
So, before you pooh-pooh the idea, let’s explore what’s behind this tradition & more practical ways towards self-improvement.
From the Babylonians who resolved to return borrowed farm equipment to medieval knights who would renew their vow to chivalry, New Year’s resolutions are nothing new.
In 2000 B.C., the Babylonians celebrated the New Year during a 12-day festival called Akitu (starting with the vernal equinox). This started the farming season to plant crops, crown their king, and make promises to pay their debts. One common resolution was the return of borrowed farm equipment (which makes sense for an agriculturally based society).
The Babylonian New Year was adopted by the ancient Romans, as was the tradition of resolutions. The timing, however, eventually shifted with the Julian calendar in 46 B.C., which declared January 1st as the start of the new year.
January was named for the two-faced Roman god, Janus, who looks forward to new beginnings as well as backward for reflection and resolution. The Romans would offer sacrifices to Janus and make promises of good behaviour for the year ahead.
New Year’s resolutions were also made in the Middle Ages. Medieval knights would renew their vow to chivalry by placing their hands on a peacock. The annual “Peacock Vow” would take place at the end of the year as a resolution to maintain their knightly values.
By the 17th century, New Year’s resolutions were so common that folks found humour in the idea of making and breaking their pledges.
In the United States, as a legacy of Protestant history, resolutions in the early 1900s were more religious or spiritual, reflecting a desire to develop stronger moral character, a stronger work ethic & more restraint in the face of earthly pleasures.
Over the years, however, resolutions seem to have migrated from denying physical indulgences to general self-improvement, like losing weight.
The top Resolutions currently as per a Gallup poll are :
- Lose weight
- Get organized
- Spend less, save more
- Enjoy life to the fullest
- Stay fit and healthy
- Learn something exciting
- Quit smoking
- Help others fulfill their dreams
- Fall in love
- Spend more time with family
Whether we resolve to return borrowed farm equipment (as the Babylonians did) or drop a few kilos, we’re tapping into an ancient & powerful longing for a fresh start by setting resolutions.
More people succeed at New Year’s resolutions than you might think. A Marist poll of 1,074 adults found that 68% of them who’d made a resolution had kept it.
But if you’re still not sold on the tradition of resolutions, try a different approach. Take a piece of paper and list a few regrets about the past year. Then toss that scrap of paper into the fire!
For me, resolutions are meant to show the direction we need to take, the path we need to adopt to reach our goals and hence come with a bent of imperative in them.
Having a ‘Life Vision’ is one of the most important areas to work on & actually writing them out aids in manifesting them.
I very strongly believe in the future, in dreams, hopes & ambitions & this note is about the future.
Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now & make a brand new ending.
So here’s to new Resolutions and new endings.
May the new year bring new hope and new dreams in your life & May you stay blessed forever.
PS : My resolution for 2025 is to learn the Sanskrit Language