Did you know the January 1st New Year is not the true new year? If people from the ancient times are transported today, they will call us crazy and ungrateful. The Gregorian New Year begins right in the middle of the night/dark at 00:00 and in the coldest days of winter. It, “New Year”, used to mean new beginnings, new dawn, fresh start, going into the light–the warmth that brings life.
# The Four Seasons
Here comes the winter breeze
That chills the air and hits the snow
And I imagine kissing you under the mistletoe
As springtime makes its way here
Lilac blooms remind me of
The scent of your perfume
Four Seasons of Loneliness, Boyz II Men
- Spring
- dawn to sunrise
- It signifies new beginnings. A fresh start. A new season.
- Renewal of life.
- Planting season.
- New Year!
- Summer
- is daylight.
- It marks our continuous work.
- We continue to prepare for the coming of the next winter.
- The time to learn and study. The time to train.
- To continue taking care of the farm as the seeds we planted back in Spring grows.
- Autumn
- Fall
- is sunset to dusk.
- The cold air begins to blow.
- Harvest season. Stockpiling of our needs for the next season … winter.
- Winter
- is nighttime.
- Coldness and darkness.
- Lack of heat.
- Death. No life can grow. No crops.
- Animals retreat, burrows to the deepest recessed of the earth or migrates to warmer regions.
- We stick together for warmth and survival.
- We use our stockpiles of food, water, and other materials we need.
- We rest and wait for winter to be over.
Then the cycle repeats again, back to Spring, a new year. New beginnings. We plant again. Even the animals and plants display the same cycle year around, season by season. In Spring, animals starts to come out again from their hiding places. Those that migrated elsewhere returns. Even bears that went to hibernation wakes up. Trees starts to grow leaves, and those with leaves begins to show more vibrant, lively, colours.
But contrast Spring to Winter, it’s total opposite. Animals disappears. Trees withers. Nature itself is conserving to avoid permanent death!
The seasons weren’t there to simply tell us if it is going to be hot or cold, rainy or dry. The seasons actually tell us when a solar year begins and ends. Thus, a New Year in Winter, even more so in the dead of the Winter season, is definitely not New Year.
# A Day Begins at, well… Day (light)
A New Year in the dead of the night is not New Year either. Spring is synonymous to dawn to sunrise. It marks a new beginning. A fresh start. The families go out to welcome the first light, the first heat, after a long cold winter. Snow and ice melts from the new heat that gives new life. No one goes out in the night before Spring!
Even animals knew better than to go out and welcome “Spring” while it is dark! Spring begins at dawn! Trees show the same pattern, a day begins at dawn.
It means that any “day” that begins in the night is simply out-of-sync with time (nature) itself. A “day” begins at dawn when the light begins to rise and shine. A night on the other hand is still dark. No life. When light begins to shine, that’s when “new” is. Day and darkness can never be the same. They work in tandem but one can never call night a “day”.
# Lesson from Reality
- A "new day" begins at dawn, when the first light shines.
- A "New Year" begins on the first day of Spring.
- "New Year" and "new day" can not begin at 00:00 (12:00mn).
- "New Year" and "new day" can not begin at 18:00 (06:00pm).
Our forefathers all marked a “New Year” at Spring, not Winter. They also consider a “new day” at dawn. There were very few records of an ancient civilisation that started their “New Year” on a different season, and the Romans were one, if not the only, that showed such.
It is true that all roads lead to Rome, because even our incorrect reckoning of “New Year” leads to Rome!
But the rest of the world and nature itself disagrees with Rome and the modern world. The true “New Year” begins on the first daylight of Spring. If we want a fixed time, then 06:00H local time has always been the best choice even from many ancient civilisations.
# Disclaimer
This article was not meant to judge against any “New Year” and “new day” reckoning. Everyone is free use any method they prefer. This is only an information-type article about this subject of “New Year” and “new day”.
If you want to use this article to ridicule people who chose to practice the Gregorian New Year and the “a day is sunset to sunset”, please do not include my name or this website “One Way Faith™”" in your adaptation/remix of this article.