Wishing Other A Happy New Year: the Dilemma
2015 ends and 2016 begins: the beginning of another cycle on
movements of the celestial bodies as measured by the movements of the sun. If
we count the movements on the basis of the movement of the moon, the day upon
which the new cycle begins will be different depending on the minor differences
in the method of calculation of the lunar calendars: the Muslim, Chinese and
Indian calendars for example.
Anyway, setting aside the different calendars let us for the
moment ponder of this “new year” that we celebrate today on January the first. The
New Year has also been celebrated at different times in the times. The Babylonian
celebrated Akitu at some time around late March. The Romans celebrated a
holiday dedicated to Janus, their two faced god of change and new beginnings. This
celebration also gave us the name January.
The Egyptians celebrated Wepet Renpet (opening of the New
Year) by getting drunk: a tradition that is apparently still being followed
today.
The Persians called the New Year Nowruz (new day) since the
days of Achaemenid empire and continued to do so until the 7th
century. Their monarch held massive feasts where they ate with abandon: another
tradition inherited by present day people.
The Jews celebrated their New Year, Tishri, sometime between
September and October.
So, what am I to do on this day of the Gregorian New Year?
This day designated as the day at which the year begins by Pope Gregory XIII in
February 1582 which makes this calendar the youngest among those mentioned
above.
My Canadian friend, Al, had an interesting idea. He wished
that I survive this cycle of days. When I thought about it, this sounds like a
logical and reasonable thing to do. After all, we cannot predict what will
happen tomorrow and we certainly cannot predict that all will be well. We can
make a wish that all will be well with each other but life has its ups and
downs; so we will probably find ourselves happy, sad, in despair, angry and a
host of other emotional conditions at different times this year: wishing
someone to be happy all year long is simply unrealistic because should that ‘prayer’
be answered and our friend become happy all the time all year, that person will
probably at some time this year be carted to a psychiatrist’s office for some
psychiatric evaluation. This is possibly, for example, because he or she will
be there smiling and telling happy stories while standing in a crowd who are
gathered at a road side watching helplessly as someone struggle to hang on to
life after being horribly mutilated in a collision. No, I don’t think perpetual
and persistent happiness will be a gift in this circumstance.
Therefore, it would be better for our friends and
acquaintances if they are able to show and feel emotions appropriate to the
context in which they find themselves.
I think the best thing for me to wish you would be for you
to survive 2016 in style, health and prosperity. Have a good year.
Ref:
3.
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