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The Roots and Fruits of New Year’s Eve
“Some of the customs may seem crazy or quaint, but what are the real origins and results of the New Year’s holiday?
I admit it. I have been up at midnight on New Year’s Eve a few times. Not celebrating exactly. In fact, most of those times I was part of a volunteer security force on the campus where I went to college—which happened to be along the Rose Parade route in Pasadena, California.
Our job was to be alert to criminals, vandals and even people camping out along the parade route and searching for anything they could burn to keep warm. You might be surprised that it gets fairly cool in January in Southern California. Of course, it is much warmer there than in New York’s Times Square (where it averages 33.7 degrees Fahrenheit at midnight) and other northern gathering places where people count down to the new Roman year.
It makes you wonder: How did New Year’s Eve come to be celebrated in the winter and at midnight? Blame it on the ancient Romans.
Julius Caesar, the calendar fixer
Many ancient societies began their new year in the spring. But by the time of Julius Caesar, the Roman calendar was off. Way off. To get the calendar to line up with the seasons, Caesar had to add 90 days!
History.com explains, “Over the centuries, the calendar fell out of sync with the sun, and in 46 B.C. the emperor Julius Caesar decided to solve the problem by consulting with the most prominent astronomers and mathematicians of his time. He introduced the Julian calendar, which closely resembles the more modern Gregorian calendar that most countries around the world use today.
“As part of his reform, Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year, partly to honor the month’s namesake: Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look back into the past and forward into the future. Romans celebrated by offering sacrifices to Janus, exchanging gifts with one another, decorating their homes with laurel branches and attending raucous parties.”
Beliefnet.com also notes that New Year’s is associated with the winter solstice and is “an ancient holiday with deep spiritual roots. … Ancient Romans celebrated with six days of carousing that would probably be familiar to us today.”
Customs and superstitions
From its ancient origins, a wide variety of traditions and superstitions have developed around the world. Here is just a sampling.
“In Ecuador, people make dummies, stuffed with straw, to represent the events [and people, such as politicians and pop culture icons] of the past year. These ‘[año] viejo’ effigies are burned at midnight, thus symbolically getting rid of the past” (Beliefnet.com). Some even try to jump through the flames 12 times!
MarthaStewart.com describes another jumping tradition: “Many Danish people celebrate the New Year by jumping off chairs at the stroke of midnight. Leaping is said to banish bad luck and bring good fortune into the new year. They also traditionally throw plates at neighbors’ doors to symbolize their friendship. The person with the most broken plates is said to have the most friends.”
On NPR.org, Maria Fe Martinez describes another Latin American New Year’s tradition: “If you want to have a very lucky year, you have to wear yellow underwear. And if you want to have a very passionate year, you wear red underwear. …
“And you can get them all over town. Like, if you’re driving in your car, you’re going to see a street vendor selling yellow underwear, which is hilarious. Right after Christmas, they show up.”
The International Business Times reports that 44 percent of Americans say they will kiss someone at midnight. But why?
According to Livescience.com, “Puckering up at the stroke of midnight is a venerable tradition with ancient roots. Many cultures considered the transition from the warm to the cold seasons to be an intensely vulnerable time, when evil spirits could run amok, Aveni [author of The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays] said.
“Many of our traditions, including kissing, originally come from the English tradition of ‘saining,’ or offering blessing or protection, during the period of Yuletide, Aveni said. (Yuletide was originally a pre-Christian Germanic festival that eventually became synonymous with Christmastide in Europe.)”
New Year’s crime rates
In addition to its pagan roots, the fruits of this holiday are not good. For example, according to Allprobailbond.com, “the holidays are the busiest time of year for the bail bond industry.” Why?
“• Increased alcohol consumption. … Driving under the influence is the leading cause for New Year’s Eve arrests. …
“• Increased emotions. Some people are very unhappy during the holidays. Domestic violence often increases during the holiday season as well as self-inflicted wounds. Consumption of alcohol also increases violent acts.”
What does the Bible say?
The Bible gives its own list of meaningful annual celebrations, but Jan. 1 is not on the list. It’s definitely not God’s new year; He set the first month of the year to begin in what we call March or April.
The Bible gives its own list of meaningful annual celebrations, but Jan. 1 is not on the list. It’s definitely not God’s new year; He set the first month of the year to begin in what we call March or April (Exodus 12:2; Deuteronomy 16:1). And the Bible warns against getting ensnared by customs that are based on pagan religions. We are not to ask, “How did these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise” (Deuteronomy 12:30).
Superstitions and customs that may seem quaint or harmless to most people today can be repulsive to God who knows their roots and their fruits.
Playing with paganism isn’t cute—it is corrosive to our relationship with the true God. When God calls Himself a “jealous God,” it’s actually a sign of His love and desire for the best for us (Deuteronomy 6:14-15).
And consider the apostle Peter’s call to avoid sinful celebrations where there is “lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries” (1 Peter 4:3). Peter acknowledged that our friends may think it strange we no longer party with them, but in the end we must answer to God.
For all these reasons, celebrating the pagan holiday of New Year’s Eve is not pleasing to God.
Learn more about what God says in our free booklet From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You.
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Christmas Is Not for Kids
“Christmas traditions focus heavily on children, but they actually teach many negative character lessons. Discover why Christmas is bad for your kids.
Even though Christmas is technically celebrated on Dec. 25 by the majority of the world, people start preparing for it months in advance. Shortly after Thanksgiving children start sending letters off to Santa Claus, who also starts appearing in stores and malls. Parents start shopping for presents on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and may start setting up Christmas trees and lights around the same time. Most popular Christmas traditions revolve around children.
There are many problems with Christmas, which we explain in detail in many of our materials. But many people will counter those reasons with the excuse: “But it’s for the kids!”
Well, here is a proposition that may be surprising: Christmas is not for kids.
Christian parents should keep in mind the instruction to “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6). When we really analyze Christmas traditions, we discover they teach children lessons that lead them in the wrong direction.
Four reasons Christmas is not for kids
1. Christmas teaches children it’s okay to lie.
While children should be taught about the birth of Jesus Christ, it shouldn’t be taught alongside a holiday based on many lies about His birth. You can learn about those lies in our article “The Birth of Jesus.” Simply put, if children are taught about Christ’s birth from Christmas, they are being taught a totally inaccurate story of what really happened and when it happened!
But the facts of Christ’s birth aren’t the only lies surrounding Christmas. Christmas traditions emphasize the story of Santa who lives at the North Pole, of elves who make toys for him and of flying reindeer that help him deliver toys to the world’s children in a single night. These are all myths—lies!
Parents teach these lies while also expecting their children to be truthful. They fail to see that “harmless” lies teach children that some lies are acceptable. Instead of teaching myths, it’s much healthier for parents to teach what God says in His Word about lying and why it is forbidden in the 10 Commandments. When parents actively teach the values of truth and honesty, it doesn’t make sense to teach the various Christmas myths.
2. Christmas teaches children greed and selfishness.
Commercials entice children with the latest toys, electronics and fashion during the Christmas shopping season. The words “I want” and “mine” are often the first words that children learn, but during this time of the year those words are magnified! Children are not really focused on Christ during this season that is supposedly all about Him, but instead on what they will get. This leads to covetousness (which breaks the 10th Commandment). Are we seeing a pattern here?
Jesus warns us, “Beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). Teaching children to give and be content with what they have is a good antithesis of the getting focus of Christmas.
3. Christmas devalues faith.
Millions of children around the world request gifts from Santa Claus and wait for their request to be answered on Christmas morning. Sometimes they are then disappointed by not getting what they asked for and then later learning that Santa really doesn’t exist.
Not only do Christmas traditions ask children to put faith in a nonexistent man, but they also set them up to question God. How can they develop true faith when their original faith was built on a lie?
When we really analyze Christmas traditions, we discover they teach children lessons that lead them in the wrong direction.
4. Christmas is used as a bargaining chip.
A 2009 survey by kidsturnscentral.com asked kids, “What does Christmas mean to you?” A 15-year-old in Kansas responded, “A time where we pretend that our good behavior for the day will carry over to the rest of the year.”
Think about it: Christmas teaches children to be good because “Santa Claus is coming to town.” In other words, be good so you will get presents.
According to the Bible, we should choose to do good because it is the right thing to do. Ecclesiastes 12:13 teaches us to “fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.” Children must be taught that they shouldn’t just obey God to get—but instead because it is the right thing to do all the time.
Teach truth, not lies
Christmas compromises some of the most basic and essential biblical principles: honesty, generosity, and faith. Along with its unbiblical and pagan origins, parents should reconsider exposing children to Christmas and instead teach them how to worship and live according to the Bible.”
We have recently published a parenting resource manual to assist parents who are serious about teaching their children about God’s way of life. You can download free lessons at “Encourage, Equip & Inspire.”
To learn more about improper and proper worship of God, request our free booklet From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You. From: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/relationships/blog/christmas-is-not-for-kids/
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Avoiding Epilepsy Through Diet
Transcript of YouTube video at: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/avoiding-epilepsy-through-diet/
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
“Avoiding pork tapeworm parasites (cysticercosis) is not as easy as just avoiding pork!
Another review last year confirmed that pork tapeworms taking residence inside our brains “is a significant public health issue within the United States.” At first, though, clinical diagnosis can be challenging. Initial presentations of the disease are often vague complaints like headaches, weakness, dizziness, high blood pressure.
In terms of treatment, in a series of more than a hundred cases published this year, although antiparasitic deworming drugs were found to be effective, about 10% of victims require brain surgery—what’s called an open craniotomy, where you have to go in and basically just dig ‘em out.
They can get into our muscles, too. This is an X-ray of someone’s leg, and you can see how infested the muscle is. And that’s why we can get it from pork—because it gets into muscles.
But what if you don’t eat pig muscles? Well, to all the smug non-pork-eaters out there, if we can find pork tapeworms in the brains of Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, we can find pork tapeworms in anyone.
They weren’t sneaking off for schnitzel. It was their pork-eating domestic houseworkers preparing their food. When 1,700 members of the local synagogue were tested, 1% tested positive. The researchers suggested that those “to be employed as domestic workers or food handlers should be screened for tapeworm infection via examination of three stool samples for [tapeworm] eggs.”
So to avoid the #1 cause of adult-onset epilepsy, we may want to not eat pork, and not eat anything made by anyone who eats pork.”
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