2017 is rapidly approaching and as we find ourselves at the close of yet another year passed many people are taking time to reflect. One thing is certain: change is essential to life. A new year seems, therefore, like an appropriate time for self betterment. But modern civilization didn't invent this holiday tradition. New Year's Resolutions have been, though in slightly varied forms, around for thousands of years. However, the first recorded people to have celebrated this, the Ancient Babylonians, did not do so on the first of January, but rather the first of March. During a sacred 12 day festival called Akitu the Babylonians celebrated the planting of the crops and also decided between crowning a new patriarch or retaining their current king. To the Babylonians, this was an apt time for them to make promises of good deeds to the gods. This festival, full of rituals, traditions, and songs, is the oldest predecessor to our modern day custom of making New Year's Resolutions.
The tradition first moved to January with the rule of Julius Caesar, who declared the 1st of January, to be the beginning of the new year in order to solve inconsistencies with the Roman calendar. Janus, the god for whom the month was named, was a two faced deity symbolic of new beginnings. It was on this new New Year's day that the Romans would honor Janus, and each other, with gifts and parties. From then on, the date of the tradition stayed constant outside of a relatively brief period where medieval European Christian leaders tried to align the holiday with a date more closely mirrored to Christmas: March 25th. This was changed back, however, in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII re-established January 1st as the general consensus among certain western cultures. Varying calendars, however, still celebrate on separate dates.
But no matter when the celebration takes place, one thing that is largely consistent throughout humanity is the tradition of resolutions. Promises of betterment, specific or general, seem inherent to many perceptions of the new year. We see times of change on a natural level as opportunities for us too to transform.
As intuitive as this may seem, however, one must remember that there is no concrete impetus designating we make changes at a specific date or time. Change can happen at any time. So be the best version of yourself in 2017, but at your own pace.
