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Never Drink and Drive, artist Jack Haye
First, a few facts about New Years:
The date of New Year’s Day seems so fundamental that it’s almost as though nature ordained it. But New Year’s Day is a civil event. Its date isn’t precisely fixed by any natural seasonal marker.
According to a study by Borgna Brunner, the British and the Americans did not celebrate the New Year on January 1st until 1752. Prior to that New Years was celebrated in March.
“The earliest recording of a new year celebration is believed to have been in Mesopotamia, c. 2000 B.C. and was celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox, in mid-March. A variety of other dates tied to the seasons were also used by various ancient cultures. The Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians began their new year with the fall equinox, and the Greeks celebrated it on the winter solstice.”
“The date for the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) changes each year. It always falls between January 21 and February 20 as determined by the Chinese lunar calendar.”
“There’s no astronomical reason to celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1. Instead, our modern New Year’s celebration stems from the ancient, two-faced, Roman god Janus – for whom the month of January is also named. One face of Janus looked back into the past, and the other peered forward to the future.”
Think in the Morning has assembled below a few specimens of napkin art produced during the Sea Gull Cellar Bar days (circa 1980s) that we feel represent the New Year in some whimsical way. Enjoy!
Mad Pianist notes the New Year, Roy Hoggard artist
A Red Mermaid Dress for the New Year?, artist unknown
Have a Glassy New Year, RF artist
Poinsettias for the New Year, artist unknown
An Oyster Egg delivering a basket for the New Year, artist unknown
A “Y” New Year, Wanda Sue artist
New Year Fire Works, James Maxwell artist
Wild New Years Celebration, James Maxwell artist
Prophesying the New Year, James Maxwell artist
“X” s and “O” s for the New Year, artist unknown
WE AT THINK IN THE MORNING WISH ALL OUR READERS A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR !
Seems to me that New Year’s, Christmas, and Hannukah are all based on the winter solstice, with the variations in date due to different ways of dating the solstice in various calendars. Any solar based annual calendar has to account for precession because a year is not an exact number of days; one year = 365.2422 days.
Thanks for the napkin art. Nice examples.
Happy New Year David,
The 80’s are a refreshing memory lane and never a tourist trap. Thanks.
Cheers to you and yours,
Max
Love seeing Max’s work!
Dear Dave….stay inside until 2017….so we can make sure you are still alive. seems like the REAL Person of the Year this year was the Grim Reaper!
Thank you for this wonderful blog!
SPQR!