New Year's Eve

For me today is really the First Sunday after Christmas i.e the 7th day of Christmas. However I cannot ignore that it is also New Year's Eve, particularly since returning from church to spend the rest of the day with family in a largely secular environment. That's OK and I am certainly enjoying myself with food and drink, papers, toys, and TV.

In this country we haven't always kept new year on January 1st. It wasn't until Pope Gregory XIII's reformed calendar was accepted in 1752 that January 1st became New Year's Day. Our year used to begin on March 25th, the Feast of the Annunciation, popularly known as Lady Day.

For Orthodox Christians it was September 1st. Germany's year used to begin at Christmas, while in France and the Low countries it was Easter.

First footing is a new year's eve tradition with which I grew up. My father in law would stand outside in the back yard with a piece of coal for the fire waiting for the clock on the village church to strike midnight. Fortunately he was male, dark haired and not flat footed or cross eyed. When he entered the house he placed his coal on the fire and was rewarded with food and drink. If a stranger acting for our good he could also be rewarded with money. His coming, especially if he also carried token bread and silver, was meant to ensure that the family had warmth, food and prosperity throughout the year ahead.

We would also many years spend the dying moments of the old year and the first of the new at a Watchnight Service in church where our reliance on God's providence would be acknowledged
as well as our need for forgiveness for the faults and failings of the closing year. Of course, all was "through Jesus Christ our Lord".

These days, as anno domini creeps on, I do not always last out until midnight - nor do I see the need to do so. At peace and asleep is now an acceptable way to make the transfer from one year to the next.

New Year's Day has only been a bank holiday since 1974.