The story of New Year’s resolutions

1 January is when people traditionally start the brand new yr with a fresh resolution. This is the story …

The yr

A literal day is the time it takes for the planet to make a full rotation on its axis because it is in orbit across the sun. A literal yr is the time it takes for the earth to make a full rotation across the sun. According to the Bible, the literal day and the literal yr were created on the fourth day of creation, when God said, “Let there be lights within the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and allow them to be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years” (Genesis 1:14–19). Different planets have different days and different years. The planet Venus, which is closer to the sun, spins on its axis very slowly but spins across the sun quite quickly, in order that its day is longer than its yr.

Different New Years

You can start the yr at any time. We speak of the tutorial yr when schools and universities restart each September. We speak of the British financial yr, which starts on April 6, or Old Lady Day, and the legal latest yr, which starts on October 1. Different cultures and religions start the yr at different times.

Jewish New Year

Jewish New Year known as Rosh Hashanah, which suggests “head of the yr”. It starts in early autumn on the primary day of the Hebrew month of Tishri, which often falls in September. This doesn’t appear to be the unique latest yr, since Tishri is counted because the seventh month. One tradition is that it’s the anniversary of the day when God created Adam and Eve. Rosh Hashanah starts with the blowing of the shofar, which is a ram’s horn used as a trumpet (Leviticus 23:24). Jewish families gather for meals with traditions like apples dipped in honey, symbolising the wish for a sweet yr, and pomegranates, representing the hope for a yr crammed with charitable deeds. Rosh Hashanah then starts 10 days of repentance.

Ancient beginnings

An article in National Geographic on December 27, 2024 explored the history of New Year’s resolutions. Long before the birth of Christ, ancient peoples used the turning of the yr for guarantees and pledges. Babylonian records from around 4,000 years ago describe a New Year festival through which people pledged loyalty to their king and promised to repay debts and return borrowed items. In other words, a latest yr was already seen as a time to place things right and start again.

Roman New Year

The tradition of starting the calendar on January 1 is Roman. The Romans fixed the beginning of the yr with a month dedicated to Janus, who was a god with two faces. One looked backwards and one forwards. The month dedicated to Janus gave us the name of the primary month as January. Romans would make vows of fine conduct and offer sacrifices, a type of moral and spiritual “fresh start” at the edge of a latest yr. The Romans called the primary day of every month the Calends or Kalends, which is the origin of our word calendar.

Ecclesiastical New Year

Christians mark different ecclesiastical latest years. The Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar starts on September 1, and the Ethiopian New Year, called Enkutatash, starts on September 11, or September 12 whether it is a bissextile year. For Catholics and Protestants, the liturgical latest yr starts on Advent Sunday, which is the tip of November or the beginning of December. In Eastern Orthodox communities in parts of Eastern Europe which observe Christmas based on the Julian calendar, the “Old New Year” is marked on January 14 within the Gregorian calendar, which is the equivalent of January 1 on the Julian calendar.

Lady Day as New Year’s Day

In mediaeval Europe, dominated by the Catholic Church, the Feast of the Annunciation, or Lady Day on March 25, was widely adopted as New Year’s Day. After the Norman Conquest, this was introduced to England. When the calendar was reformed to bring it into line with the astronomical calendar, the brand new yr was returned to January 1. This happened in 1582 in western Europe, in 1600 in Scotland, and never until 1752 in England. The island of Foula in Scotland still marks the brand new yr based on the Julian calendar, which makes it January 13.

Resolutions

As the gospel spread through the Roman world, Christians inherited this instinct to pause and take stock. Early Christian preaching and catechesis emphasised repentance, examination of life, and obedience to Christ. The turning of the calendar yr naturally became a moment for such reflection.

By the seventeenth century, some Christians were explicitly using the language of “resolutions” for serious spiritual commitments. This was popularised by the New England American theologian Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), who wrote a series of “Resolutions”. His resolutions were personal guarantees comparable to in search of God’s glory and tackling sin, which were intended to shape his life before God. His resolutions included the need to live earnestly and soberly, to not waste time, and to keep up temperance in drinking and eating.

New Year’s resolutions

The actual phrase “New Year’s resolution” seems to have change into common by the early nineteenth century. By the later nineteenth century and into the 20 th century, newspapers and magazines often published lists of suggested resolutions, which were often only semi-serious.

These days, New Year’s resolutions are largely individual. People make resolutions to drop some weight, exercise more, go to the gym, spend less, travel more, learn a language, or develop a latest hobby. Often resolutions are abandoned inside weeks – monthly gym memberships are cancelled, latest bikes are left within the shed, and Duolingo streaks fall away.

Yet secular resolutions echo older spiritual themes. The desire for a fresh start, for forgiveness of the past and hope for the long run, is sort of Christian. For Christians, latest beginnings are present in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Christian resolutions

Starting the brand new yr on January 1 could also be from a calendar rooted in Roman paganism, however the principle of recent beginnings, repenting of bad habits, and starting afresh is sort of Christian. Many Christians use the turn of the calendar yr to renew commitments to prayer, reading the Bible, hospitality, and repair. Resolutions needs to be concrete enough to practise, yet humble enough to acknowledge dependence on the Holy Spirit. Instead of merely asking, “What do I need to realize this yr?”, Christians could as an alternative ask, “Who is God calling me to change into this yr?”