New Year's Day

In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep learning about New Year's Day. While this is a holiday celebrated across the world by different cultures and at different times, learning about it is sure to put you to sleep tonight. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Boster.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled,

New Year's Day.

In the Gregorian calendar,

New Year's Day is the first day of the year,

1st of January.

Whilst most solar calendars,

Like the Gregorian and Julian,

Begin the year regularly at or near the northern winter solstice,

Cultures that observe a lunisolar or lunar calendar celebrate their lunar new year at less fixed points relative to the solar year.

In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar,

The day was dedicated to Janus,

God of gateways and beginnings,

For whom January is also named.

From Roman times until the middle of the 18th century,

The new year was celebrated at various stages and in various parts of Christian Europe on 25th of December,

On 1st of March,

On 25th of March,

And on the movable feast of Easter.

In the present day,

With most countries now using the Gregorian calendar as their civil calendar,

January 1st,

According to that calendar,

Is among the most celebrated public holidays in the world,

Often observed with fireworks at the stroke of midnight following New Year's Eve,

As the new year starts in each time zone.

Other global New Year's Day traditions include making New Year's resolutions and calling one's friends and family.

The ancient Babylonian calendar was lunisolar,

And around the year 2000 BCE began observing a spring festival and the new year during the month of Nisan,

Around the time of the March equinox.

The early Roman calendar designated the 1st of March as the first day of the year.

The calendar had just ten months,

Beginning with March.

That the new year once began with the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months.

September through to December,

The 9th through to the 12th months of the Gregorian calendar,

Were originally positioned as the 7th through to the 10th months.

Septim is Latin for seven,

Octo eight,

Novum nine,

And decim ten.

Roman mythology usually credits their second king Numa with the establishment of the two new months of Ianuarius and Februarius.

These were first place at the end of the year,

But at some point came to be considered the first two months instead.

The January calendar,

The start of the month of January,

Came to be celebrated as the new year at some point after it became the day for the inaugurating new councils in 153 BCE,

As a result of the rebellion in Hispania which began the Second Celtiberian War.

Celestinians had long dated their years by these consulships,

Rather than sequentially,

And making the calends of January start the new year aligned this date.

Still private and religious celebrations around the March new year continued for some time,

And there is no consensus on the question of the timing for the first of January's new status.

Once it became the new year,

However,

It became a time for family gatherings and celebrations.

A series of disasters,

Notably including the failed rebellion of M.

Aemilius Lepidus in 78 BCE,

Established a superstition against allowing Rome's market days to fall on the calends of January,

And the Pontiffs employed intercalation to avoid its occurrence.

The Julian calendar proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE was a reform of the Roman calendar.

It took effect on the first of January,

45 BCE,

By edict.

The calendar became the predominant calendar in the Roman Empire,

And subsequently most of the Western world for more than 1600 years.

The Roman calendar began the year on the first of January,

And this remained the start of the year after the Julian reform.

However,

Even after local calendars were aligned to the Julian calendar,

They started the new year on different dates.

The Alexandrian calendar in Egypt started on the 29th of August,

The 30th of August after an Alexandrian leap year.

Several local provincial calendars were aligned to start on the birthday of the Emperor Augustus,

The 23rd of September.

The indiction caused the Byzantine year,

Which used the Julian calendar,

To begin on the first of September.

This date is still used in the Eastern Orthodox Church for the beginning of the liturgical year.

At various times and various places throughout medieval Christian Europe,

The new year was celebrated on the 25th of December in honor of the birth of Jesus,

The first of March in the Old Roman style,

The 25th of March in honor of Lady Day,

The Feast of the Annunciation,

The date of the conception of Jesus,

And on the movable Feast of Easter.

As a date in the Christian calendar,

New Year's Day liturgically marked the feast of the naming and circumcision of Jesus,

Which is still observed as such in the Anglican Church,

The Lutheran Church,

The Eastern Orthodox Church,

And in traditional Catholicism by those who retain the usage of the general Roman calendar of 1960.

The mainstream Roman Catholic Church celebrates on this day the Solemnity of Mary,

Mother of God.

Among the seventh-century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands,

It was the custom to exchange gifts at the winter solstice.

This custom was deplored by St.

Eligius,

Who warns the Flemish and Dutch,

Do not make visuals,

Little figures of the old woman,

Little deer or iotikos or set-tables for the house-elf,

Compare puck at night,

Or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks,

Another yule custom.

However,

On the date that European Christians celebrated the Feast of the Circumcision,

They exchanged Christmas presents because the feast fell within the twelve days of the Christmas season in the Western Christian liturgical calendar.

The custom of exchanging Christmas gifts in a Christian context is traced back to the biblical Magi,

Who gave gifts to the Christ Child.

In Tudor England,

The first of January,

As the Feast of the Circumcision,

Not New Year's Day,

Along with Christmas Day and Twelfth Night,

Was celebrated as one of three main festivities among the twelve days of Christmastide.

Most nations of Europe and their colonies officially adopted the first of January as New Year's Day,

Somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian calendar.

France changed to the first of January from 1564,

Most of Germany did so from 1544,

The Netherlands from 1556 or 1573 according to sect,

Italy,

Not being united,

Did so on a variety of dates,

Spain and Portugal from 1556,

Sweden,

Norway,

And Denmark from 1599,

Scotland from 1600,

And Russia from 1725,

England,

Wales,

Ireland,

And Britain's American colonies did so from 1752.

Until 1752,

Except Scotland,

The Kingdom of Great Britain and its Empire at the time had retained 25 March as the official start of the year,

Though informal use of the first of January had become common.

With the calendar,

New style,

Act 1750,

Britain and the Empire formally adopted the first of January as New Year's Day,

And with the same Act also discarded the Julian calendar,

Though the actions are otherwise unrelated.

The Act came into effect following the last said day of December 1751.

By 1750,

An eleven-day difference between the older Julian and the newer and more accurate Gregorian calendars also needed to be adjusted for.

There was some religious dissent regarding feast days being moved,

Especially Christmas Day,

And isolated communities continued the old reckoning to a greater or lesser extent.

The years 1800 and 1900 were leap years in the Julian calendar,

But not in the Gregorian,

So the difference increased to twelve,

Then thirteen days.

The year 2000 was a leap year in both calendars.

In the Guam Valley and Wales,

The new year is celebrated on the 13th of January,

Still based on the 19th-century difference in the calendars.

Fowler in the Shetland Islands celebrates Yule,

Old Christmas,

Rather than the December solstice,

On the 6th of January and Newer Day on the 13th of January.

Again both dates reflect the 19th-century reckoning and were not moved again in 1900.

At various stages during the first half of the 20th century,

All countries in eastern Christendom adopted the Gregorian calendar as their civil calendar,

But continued,

And have continued into modern times,

To use the Julian calendar for ecclesiastical purposes.

As the 1st of January,

Julian,

Equates to the 14th of January,

Gregorian,

A religious celebration of the new year on this date may seem strange to western eyes.

In cultures that traditionally or currently use calendars other than the Gregorian,

New Year's Day is often also an important celebration.

Some countries concurrently use Gregorian and another calendar.

New Year's Day in the alternative calendar attracts alternative celebrations of that new year.

African Now Rouse and Nkudetash are the New Year's Days of the Coptic Egyptians and the Ethiopians respectively.

Between 1900 and 2100,

Both occur on the 11th of September in most years,

And on the 12th of September in the years before Gregorian leap years.

They preserve the legacy of the ancient Egyptian New Year-wept Renpet,

Which originally marked the onset of the Nile flood,

But which wandered through the seasons until the introduction of leap years to the traditional calendars by Augustus in 30-20 BC.

In Ethiopia,

The New Year is held to mark the end of the summer rainy season.

The Odunde festival,

Also called the African New Year,

Is celebrated in Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania and the United States on the second Sunday of June.

While the name was based on the Yoruba African culture,

Its celebration marks the largest African celebration in the world,

Which more or less was started by a local tradition.

The Sotho people of Lesotho and South Africa celebrate Selemo Saba Sotho on the first of August during the end of the Southern Hemisphere's winter.

This is based on the Sotho calendar and includes observances such as Mokete Walewa,

A celebration that follows the harvest.

East Asian Chinese New Year is celebrated in some countries around East Asia,

Including China,

And Southeast Asia,

Including Singapore.

It is the first day of the traditional Chinese calendar,

A lunar calendar that is corrected for the solar changes every three years,

I.

E.

A lunisolar calendar.

The holiday normally falls between the 20th of January and the 20th of February.

The holiday is celebrated with food,

Families,

Lucky money,

Usually in a red envelope,

And many other red things for good luck.

Lion and dragon dances,

Drums,

Fireworks,

Firecrackers,

And other types of entertainment fill the streets on this day.

The first of January is also a legal holiday in China,

And people also celebrate the Gregorian New Year on this day,

But it is not as grand as the traditional Chinese New Year.

Japanese New Year is celebrated on the 1st of January because the Gregorian calendar is now used instead of the Chinese calendar,

In use until 1873.

Korean New Year is celebrated on the first day of the traditional Korean calendar in South Korea.

The first day of this lunisolar calendar,

Called Seollal,

Is an important national holiday,

With a minimum of three days off of work and school.

Koreans celebrate New Year's Day by preparing food for their ancestors' spirits,

Visiting ancestors' graves,

And playing Korean games,

Such as yunori,

With families.

Young children show respect to their parents,

Grandparents,

Relatives,

And other elders by bowing down in a traditional way and are given good wishes and some money by the elders.

In addition,

South Koreans celebrate the first of January's New Year's Day of the Gregorian calendar,

And as a national holiday,

People have the day off.

The Gregorian calendar is now the official civil calendar in South Korea,

So the populace now considers the first of January New Year's Day the first day of the year.

South Koreans calculate their age using the East Asian age reckoning method,

With all South Koreans adding a year to their age at midnight of the new year of the Gregorian,

Not the Korean calendar.

South Koreans enjoy the new year by counting down to midnight on New Year's Eve on the 31st of December.

North Koreans celebrate the New Year's Day holiday on the first day of the Gregorian calendar,

January 1st.

This New Year's Day,

Confusingly also called Seollal,

Is a big holiday in North Korea,

While they take a day off on the first day of the Korean calendar.

The first day of the Korean calendar is regarded as a day for relaxation,

But North Koreans consider the first day of the Gregorian calendar to be even more important.

Southeast Asia Cambodian New Year is celebrated on the 13th of April or the 14th of April.

There are three days for the New Year.

The first day is called Moha Sangran,

The second is called Virak Wanabad,

And the final day is called Virak Lorong Sok.

During these periods,

Cambodians often go to the pagoda or play traditional games.

Phnom Penh is usually quiet during the Khmer New Year,

As most Cambodians prefer spending it at their respective hometowns.

Thai New Year is celebrated on the 13th of April or the 14th of April,

And is called Songkran in the local language.

People usually come out to splash water on one another.

The throwing of water originated as a blessing.

By capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddhas for cleansing,

This blessed water is gently poured on the shoulder of elders and family for good fortune.

Tingyon,

Burmese New Year's celebrations,

Typically begin on the 13th of April,

But the actual New Year's Day falls on the 17th of April in the 21st century.

The day has slowly drifted over the centuries.

In the 20th century,

The day fell on the 15th or 16th of April,

While in the 17th century it fell on the 9th or 10th of April.

Vietnamese New Year,

More commonly known by its shortened name Tết or Vietnamese Lunar New Year,

Is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam.

The holiday normally falls between the 20th of January and the 20th of February.

It is the Vietnamese New Year marking the arrival of spring based on the Chinese calendar,

A lunar-solar calendar.

The name means Feast of the First Morning,

Derived from the Han-Nom characters.

South Asian,

Diwali-related New Year's celebrations include Marwari New Year and Gujarati New Year.

Indian New Year's Days has several variations depending on the region and is based on the Hindu calendar.

Hindu and Hinduism,

Different regional cultures celebrate the New Year at different times of the year.

In Assam,

Bengal,

Kerala,

Nepal,

Odisha,

Punjab,

Telangana,

Andhra Pradesh,

And Tamil Nadu households celebrate the New Year when the sun enters Aries on the Hindu calendar.

This is normally on the 14th of April or 15th of April,

Depending on the leap year.

Elsewhere in northern central India,

The Vikram Samvat calendar is followed.

According to that,

The New Year day is the first day of the Chaitra month,

Also known as Chaitra Shukla Patipada or Gudi Padwa.

This is basically the first month of the Hindu calendar,

The first Shukla Paksha,

Fortnight,

And the first day.

This normally comes around the 23rd to the 24th of March,

Mostly around the spring equinox and Gregorian calendar.

The New Year is celebrated by paying respect to elders in the family and by seeking their blessings.

They also exchange tokens of good wishes for a healthy and prosperous year ahead.

The Malayalam New Year is celebrated either on the first day of the month of Medam in mid-April,

Which is known as Vishu,

Or the first day of the month in Chingam,

In the Malayalam calendar,

In mid-August,

According to another reckoning.

Unlike most other calendar systems in India,

The New Year's day on the Malayalam calendar is not based on any astronomical event.

It is just the first day of the first of the twelve months on the Malayalam calendar.

The Malayalam calendar originated in 825 A.

D.

Based on general agreement among scholars with the reopening of the city of Kollam,

Which had been destroyed by a natural disaster.

Nepal Sambhat is the Nepalese New Year celebration.

Pahela Baisak or Bangla Nava Barsho is the first day of the Bengali calendar.

It is celebrated on the 14th of April as a national holiday in Bangladesh,

And on the 14th or 15th of April in the Indian states of West Bengal,

Tripura,

And part of Assam,

By people of Bengali heritage,

Irrespective of their religious faith.

The Sikh calendar is celebrated as per the Nanak-Shahi calendar.

The epic of this calendar is the birth of the first Sikh guru,

Guru Nanak,

In 1469.

New Year's Day falls annually on what is the 14th of March in the Gregorian Western calendar.

Sinhalese New Year is celebrated in Sri Lanka culture predominantly by the Sri Lankan Sinhalese,

While the Tamil New Year on the same day is celebrated by Sri Lankan Tamils.

The Sinhalese New Year marks the end of the harvest season by the month of Bhak,

April,

Between the 13th and 14th of April.

There is an astrologically generated time gap between the passing year and the new year,

Which is based on the passing of the sun from the Meena Rashiya to the Misha Rashiya in the celestial sphere.

The astrological time difference between the new year and the passing year is celebrated with several Buddhist rituals and customs that are to be concentrated on,

Which are exclusive of all types of work.

After Buddhist rituals and traditions are attended to,

Sinhala and Tamil New Year-based social gatherings and festive parties,

With the aid of firecrackers and fireworks,

Would be organized.

The exchange of gifts,

Cleanliness,

The lighting of the oil lamp,

Making kherabath,

Milk rice,

And even the Asian coal are significant aspects of the Sinhalese New Year.

Tamil New Year is celebrated on the 13th of April or 14th of April.

Typically it is celebrated in parts of Tamil Nadu to mark the event of the sun entering Aries.

Panchagam is read in temples to mark the start of the year.

Telugu New Year,

Ugadi,

Kannada New Year,

Ugadi,

Is celebrated in March generally,

April occasionally.

Traditionally it is celebrated as Chaitram Chaitra Shudra Parjurami in parts of Andhra Pradesh,

Telangana,

And Karnataka to mark the event of the New Year's Day for the people of the Deccan region of India.

It falls on a different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a lunar-solar calendar.

The Sakha calendar begins with the month of Chaitra,

March to April,

And Ugadi-Ugadi marks the first day of the New Year.

Chaitra is the first month in the Panchanga,

Which is the Indian calendar.

Panchagam is read in temples to mark the start of the year.

The first of January represents the fresh start of a new year after a period of remembrance of the passing year,

Including on radio,

Television,

And in newspapers,

Which starts in early December in countries around the world.

Publications have year-end articles that review the changes during the previous year.

In some cases,

Publications may set their entire year's work alight in the hopes that the smoke emitted from the flame brings new life to the company.

There are also articles on planned or expected changes in the coming year.

This day is traditionally a religious feast,

But since the 1900s has also become an occasion to celebrate the night of the 31st of December,

New Year's Eve,

With parties,

Public celebrations,

Often involving firework shows,

And other traditions focused on the impending arrival of midnight and the new year.

Watch night services are also still observed by many.

The celebrations and activities held worldwide on the first of January as part of New Year's Day commonly include the following.

Several major parades are held on New Year's Day,

Including the London's New Year's Day Parade,

Pasadena's Tournament of Roses Parade,

Also known as the Rose Parade,

And Philadelphia's Memmers Parade.

In the Bahamas,

It is also associated with Junganus.

Beginning in the 2010s,

It is also the day that First Day Hikes takes place in the 50 state park systems of the United States.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra traditionally performs a New Year's concert on the morning of New Year's Day.

A polar bear plunge is a common tradition in some countries,

Where participants gather on beaches and run into the cold water.

Polar bear clubs in many northern hemisphere cities have a tradition of holding organized plunges on New Year's Day,

And they are often held to raise money for charity.

In Ireland,

New Year's Day is the day of buttered bread.

The possible meaning to the consumption of buttered bread was to ward off hunger and famine in the coming year by placing the buttered bread on the doorstep in the morning.

Some traditions saw parties of young people calling from house to house to receive buttered bread,

And occasionally pointing or to give out buttered bread in exchange for pennies.

This tradition has since died out,

Having been popular in the 19th century and waning in the 1930s and 1940s.

In Japan,

Korea,

And areas inhabited by the Inuit,

Yupik,

Aleut,

Chukchi,

And the Inupiat,

Watching the first sunrise is their tradition.

In the United States,

The first of January is the traditional date for several major post-season college football bowl games,

Including the Citrus Bowl in Orlando,

The Outback Bowl in Tampa,

The Rose Bowl game in Pasadena,

And the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Since 2015,

The Rose and Sugar Bowl games host the semifinals of the college football playoff every three seasons.

Since 2008,

The National Hockey League has hosted an annual outdoor game,

The Winter Classic,

Which rotates between different host teams annually,

And usually showcases a major regional rivalry.

If New Year's Day falls on a Sunday,

Sporting events and associated festivities,

Such as the Rose Parade,

Traditionally held on New Year's Day,

Are typically deferred to the following Monday,

In defense of the National Football League,

Which plays a Sunday game day as normal.

The Premier League in English football traditionally holds a fixture of matches on New Year's Day,

Stemming from the historic tradition of games being played over the Christmas holiday period,

Including,

Just as prominently,

Boxing Day.

The final of the PDC World Darts Championship typically falls on New Year's Day.

The Cheltenham Racecourse holds a New Year's Day fixture,

Which includes the Fairlawn Handicap Chase,

Dipper Novice's Chase,

And Railkill Hurdle.

New Year's Day is a government and bank holiday in many countries.

In the southern United States,

A variety of foods considered lucky are cooked and consumed on New Year's Day,

Including Hopping John,

Red beans and rice,

And collard greens.

Music associated with New Year's Day comes in both classical and popular genres,

And there is also a Christmas song focused on the arrival of a new year,

During the Christmas and holiday season.

Paul Gerhard wrote the text for a hymn for the turn of the year,

Nun lasst uns gehen und treten,

First published in 1653.

Johann Sebastian Bach and the Orgelbüchlein composed three choral preludes of the New Year.

Helft mir Gott's gute Preisen,

Help me to praise God's goodness,

BWV 613.

Das alte Jahr vergangen ist,

The old year has passed,

BWV 614.

And India is Freude and you is joy,

BWV 615.

The year is gone beyond recall as a traditional Christian hymn to give thanks for the new year,

Dating back to 1713.

In English-speaking countries,

It is traditional to sing Auld Lang Syne at midnight on New Year's.

A common image used,

Often as an editorial cartoon,

Is that of an incarnation of Father Time,

Or the Old Year,

Wearing a sash across his chest with the previous year printed on it,

Passing on his duties to the baby New Year,

Or the New Year,

An infant wearing a sash with the New Year printed on it.

Babies born on New Year's Day are commonly called New Year babies.

Hospitals,

Such as the Dyersburg Regional Medical Center in the U.

S.

,

Give out prizes to the first baby born in that hospital in the New Year.

These prizes are often donated by local businesses.

Prizes may include various baby-related items such as baby formula,

Baby blankets,

Diapers,

And gift certificates to stores which specialize in baby-related merchandise.

On New Year's Day in Antarctica,

The stake marking the geographical south pole is moved approximately 10 meters to compensate for the movement of the ice.

A new marker stake is designed and made each year by staff at the site nearby.

The Eastern Orthodox Church,

The Anglican Church,

And the Lutheran Church celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on the first of January,

Based on the belief that if Jesus was born on December 25,

Then according to Hebrew tradition,

His circumcision would have taken place on the eighth day of His life,

The first of January.

The Roman Catholic Church celebrates on this day the Solemnity of Mary,

Mother of God,

Which is also a holy day of obligation.

Johannes Bach composed several church cantatas for the double occasion,

Zinget dem Herrn ein neues Lied,

BWV 190,

The first of January,

1724,

Jesu nun sei gepreist,

BWV 41,

The first of January,

1725,

Herr Gott,

Dich loben wir,

BWV 16,

The first of January,

1726,

Gott wie dein Name,

So ist auch dein Ruhm,

BWV 171,

First of January,

1729,

Falt mit Danken,

Falt mit Loben,

First of January,

1735,

Christmas Oratorio,

Part 4.

First Night is a North American artistic and cultural celebration on New Year's Eve,

Taking place from afternoon until midnight.

Some cities have all their events during the celebration outside,

But some cities have events that are hosted indoors by organizations in the city,

Especially clustered in the local historical downtown,

Which are easily walkable to each other,

Such as churches and theaters.

The celebration is family-friendly and alcohol-free,

Serving as an alternative to conventional adult New Year's parties that are abundant with alcohol.

Since it happens on New Year's Eve,

First Night celebrations are actually held on the last night of the old year.

First Night celebrates the community's local culture,

Often featuring music,

Dance,

Comedy,

Art,

Fireworks,

And,

In some cities,

Ice sculptures and parades.

First conceived by Clara Wainwright for the December 31,

1975 celebration in Boston,

First Night organized a small group of artists and musicians seeking to perform on stages,

Both indoor and outdoor.

The event also sought to avoid the emphasis on alcohol typical of New Year's Eve parties.

Soon,

Other surrounding communities started their own First Night celebrations.

By the 1990s,

The First Night Boston event was attracting works by over a thousand artists.

In 2006,

More than a million visitors attended First Night events,

Including free outdoor ice sculptures on Boston Common and in Copley Square,

And waterfront fireworks.

Until 2015,

Live coverage of the final part of Boston's First Night,

Including the countdown to midnight and fireworks over Boston Harbor that began at the stroke of midnight,

Was broadcast by WBZ-TV.

CBS,

The station's parent company,

Was an official sponsor.

In 2013,

The non-profit First Night Boston organization closed for financial reasons,

Though Mayor Menino of Boston,

In office for only another year,

Pledged to find private or public funding the January 2014 celebration.

On November 11,

2013,

Mayor Menino announced he had acquired the necessary funding and that the 2013 First Night would be a bigger,

Brighter display than ever before.

The city of Boston took over the First Night festivities in 2015 and hired an event planning firm to manage the smaller and scaled-back event.

In 2016,

Television coverage of the festivities was transferred to NBCUniversal and properties including NECN,

Telemundo-owned station WNEU,

And newly acquired NBC-owned station WBTS-LD.

The latter used the event to help launch the station's NBC affiliation,

Which took effect on the 1st of January 2017.

There was no celebration in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By 1999,

First Night celebrations were being held in more than 200 cities.

In 2000,

More than 260 cities had such a celebration.

However,

In 2001,

20 cities dropped out of the First Night celebrations due to the effects of the September 11 attacks and or money difficulties.

During the Great Recession,

Which began in late 2007,

Many First Night celebrations faced financial difficulty,

Being scaled back or canceled.

There were about 45 cities with First Night celebrations happening on New Year's Eve 2013-2014.

Since New Year's Eve 2020,

First Night would be canceled or reduced in many cities,

Such as enforcing strict measures against the COVID-19 pandemic,

Like wearing masks and social distancing.

First Night USA is the national offshoot of the original Boston organization.

It works with the numerous First Night-licensed events throughout the United States.

Other celebrations on New Year's Eve,

Not labeled First Night,

Have also sprung up.

For example,

In 2003,

First Night Providence announced they planned to cancel future celebrations,

Which had been going on for 19 years.

A group of local artists created Bright Night Providence,

An artist-run New Year's Eve celebration,

Based on the idea and spirit of First Night.

Reviews

I think I lasted all of 5 minutes, then out like a light! Thank you and Happy New Year!! 😁😊

First I'd like to wish you all the best for 2024.

Wow! I never would have thought that there were so many differences to New Year's Day other than January 1st. And of course Chinese New Year, where on several occasions I've seen the celebrations in the city of Den Haag in the Netherlands.

You mentioned the Polar Bear plunge. Yes, this is also a tradition here. I did my first one on January 1st 2004. And this January 1st was my 2nd time. I had wanted to do it more often but never got to it. So after 20 years I had to! It's a lot of fun with 10.000 people running to get into the sea. Cold, but fun.

I didn't fall asleep during this podcast because it was way too interesting 😎 I will try again tomorrow.