Time to Dance!

The End of the Year: The Old Year is marked by suspension of normal activites. Abstinence and fasts are done. The life of the community symbolized by the king ends. Kings are deposed or their position temporarily suspended. In ancient Rome February 24th was considered The Flight of the King. Temporary kings for the season are established in Cambodia, Thailand, Nigeria, Uganda, and British Twelfth Night. Parties are held to see the Old Year out.

Banishing the Old Year: There cannot be a New Year until the Old Year is gone. The Old Year is evil and must be banished. An effigy of Death is paraded through the town or city and is buried, drowned, or burned. It can be made of straw, twigs, or rags. In Scotland the dummy is called the Auld Wife, while in other countries it is called the Death.

TRADITIONAL NEW YEAR'S TOAST

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Here's to the bright New Year
And a fond farewell to the old;
Here's to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold.

Welcoming the new year is one of the oldest and gayest customs celebrated the world over. In many places people stay up late to watch the old year out and the new year in. Almost everywhere in the world church bells ring, horns toot, whistles blow, sirens shriek. London's Trafalgar Square and New York City's Times Square swarm with crowds of happy, noisy people. The hullabaloo expresses people's high spirits at holiday time. Many years ago, however, the loud noises were meant to scare away evil spirits, thus giving the new year a fresh start.

New Year's Day is a time for entertaining, visiting, and in many places, gift-giving. Schools, offices, and businesses are closed. Churches hold services on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Since it marks the beginning of the year, New Year's Day is thought of as a good time to make New Year's resolutions - the resolve to do better in the year just beginning than you did in the year just ended.

"Auld Lang Syne" (The Good Old Days) is a song traditionally sung at midnight when horns are blown, confetti is thrown, and a general party atmosphere is created to ring in the New Year with happiness. The outgoing year is often represented by an elderly man known as Father Time and the new year is represented by a baby known as Baby New Year.