History of New Year’s Resolutions: Where Did They Begin?
Janus, Rome. Author’s photo
HISTORY OF NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS
As I mentioned previously, New Year’s Day celebrations began in pre-Christian times, beginning with the Babylonians in March, but later changed to January by the Romans.
Where did we get the idea of New Year’s Resolutions, and why at the beginning of the year?
Babylonian New Year’s Resolutions
About four thousand years ago, the Babylonians held a 12-day festival to celebrate their New Year. This Mesopotamian festival of Akitu survived the subsequent Neo-Assyrian and Seleucid Empires (both ruled by Alexander the Great‘s generals) and into the Roman Empire period.
But in their calendar, the New Year followed the Vernal Equinox, the beginning of the Spring planting season. Consequently, their resolutions included the assurance that they would return borrowed farm tools, pay any debts, and pray for favorable crops.
Roman New Year’s Resolutions
January is dedicated to the Roman god who gave it its name, Janus, the two-faced deity who looks backward into the old year and forward into the new. His feast day, the Agonalia, is on January 9. Janus was also the patron and protector of arches (Ianus in Latin), transitions, time, gates, doors, doorways, endings, and beginnings. He was also the patron of bridges. This statue (pictured above) is set on the bridge, Ponte Fabricio, which crosses the Tiber River from Rome to Tiber Island. It survives to this day from its original construction in 62 BC, during the time of Julius Caesar.
Ponte Fabricio, Rome.Image: Wikimedia
Even today, touching the Janus head as you cross the bridge is believed to bring good fortune, which is why it is so well-worn now. (The followers of the goddess Juno have a competing claim to the month of January, according to ancient Roman farmers’ almanacs.)
Romans made New Year’s Resolutions with a moral flavor, mainly to be good to others. However, when the Roman Empire took Christianity as its official state religion in the 4th century, these moral intentions were replaced by prayers and fasting.
Christian New Year’s Resolutions
Feast of the Circumcision (Depiction in the Menologion of Basil II, c. 980). Image: Wikipedia
For example, Christians chose to observe the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on January 1 rather than the revelry indulged in by those who did not share the faith.
This replacement had varying degrees of success over the centuries, as Christians hesitated to observe some New Year practices associated with honoring the pagan god Janus.
Medieval New Year’s Resolutions
The Chivalric Vow of the Ladies and the Peacock, painting by Daniel Maclise, 1835. Image: Wikimedia
During the Medieval Era, knights took a “peacock vow,” placing their hands on a live or roasted bird at the end of the Christmas season annually to reaffirm their commitment to the “code of chivalry” for the next year, appropriate to the order to which they belonged. They would then decorate their helmets with plumes. This practice dates back to the late 8th and early 9th centuries, during the reign of Charlemagne and his men-at-arms, the paladins.
For centuries, several Christian traditions have held “watch night services” (vigils) late on New Year’s Eve, the seventh day of Christmastide, ahead of the January 1 Feast of the Circumcision of Christ. This allows Christians to review the year that has passed, make confession, and then prepare for the year ahead by praying and making resolutions.
Puritan New Year’s Resolutions
Colonial Puritans. Image: Wikimedia
As I’ve described elsewhere, even as recently as the 17th century, Puritans in Colonial America, like the English Puritans, avoided the indulgences associated with New Year’s celebrations and other holidays. In the 18th century, Puritans avoided even naming Janus. Instead, they called January the “First Month.”
Instead, the Puritans urged their children to skip the revelry, reflect on the year past, and contemplate the year to come. In this way, they again adopted the old custom of making resolutions. These were enumerated as commitments to employ their talents better, to treat their neighbors with charity, and to avoid habitual sins.
Jonathan Edwards’ New Year’s Resolutions
Engraving of Jonathan Edwards by R Babson & J Andrews. Image: Wikipedia
The great American theologian and preacher Jonathan Edwards, who was raised in New England Puritan culture, took the writing of resolutions to an art form in the early 18th century. However, he did not write his resolutions on a single day. Instead, during a two-year period when he was about 19 or 20, after graduating from Yale, he compiled some 70 resolutions on various aspects of his life, which he committed to reviewing each week.
Here are just three:
- Resolved, in narrations, never to speak anything but the pure and simple verity.
- Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it.
- Resolved, always to do what I can towards making, maintaining, and establishing peace, when it can be without over-balancing detriment in other respects.
How do your resolutions compare?
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
billpetro.com
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I just loved the passion Jonathan Edwards had when it comes to self-examination and making a difference by starting with himself. As you stated, it is a little humbling. Your post has caused me to review his writings in more depth. Thank you!
it so good :)
Excellent piece. Fascinating connections. Illustrative how many try to make the “puritanical” ethic out to be cruel, but you see in Edwards a strong drive toward peace and harmony. I will have to read more of his work.
While compiling a reflective list of the YinYang in my life over the past year, I stumbled across this article. It gave me better insight into the history of New Year’s resolutions and further piqued my curiousity into the philosophy of Jonathan Edwards. Thank you.
Does that mean that making resoultions is actually appeasing Janus, the two-faced god who looks backwards into the old year and forwards into the new. https://billpetro.com/history-of-new-years-resolutions
Josh, no. Rather:
1) Romans named January after Janus – god of doorways and gateways…to the new year, for example.
2) People (still) touch the Janus on the Ponte Fabricio bridge for good luck, which is why it is so worn.
3) “New Year” was changed from March to January by the Romans — probably in the mid 5th century.
-Bill
I’ve done some quick research on this topic before and never found anything quite as good as this. Deftly done! Neat how Jonathan Edwards was all over self-control techniques. My own book on procrastination draws upon his as well, as per: http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/procrastination.htm
I handle the quasi-imperative of “making resolutions” at the turn of the new year (for if not now, when?) by breaking the thing up into two or three month periods. As the seasons change, so do my resolves.
Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing some research on that. And he actually bought me lunch as I found it for him smile Thus let me rephrase that Thanks for lunch! gdfddfdbfcff
Great info Bill! Interesting where our customs originate from. Thanks- randy
I am writing an article about New Years resolutions, as a fading tradition in the modern world. These detailed history make it even more informative. Thank you.
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