Let me begin this fairly long piece by wishing you and all yours a Happy New Year as we celebrate the first day of the Gregorian new year.
The Gregorian calendar was started in Rome in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII and it replaced the Julian calendar began by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. It is a solar calendar with leap years that is now celebrated all over the world on 1 January, amongst other activities, with jubilations, fanfare, fire works, prayers, parties and the pouring of libations. The exemption is China and a few other countries that celebrate their new year at a different date. China’s next celebration of the new year, for 15 days, begins on Wednesday, January 29, 2025; and it is the year of the snake. China’s new year calculation is different from the Gregorian calendar because it is lunar (based on the moon) not solar (based on the sun).
The Islamic Hijri New Year is the day that marks the beginning of a new lunar Hijri year, and is the day on which the year count is incremented. It is on record that in 1740, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, introduced the Covenant Renewal Service which included night watch services, hymn singing, and reflection that are practised today.
Associated with the celebration of the arrival of the Gregorian and other new year celebrations is the setting of New Year’s resolution. This is a declaration as a personal or professional goal to perform or relate differently in the new year. It can be a personal or professional goal that someone aims to achieve in the year ahead, such as giving up smoking, weight reduction, becoming a better Christian or Muslim, becoming more patriotic, doing better at academic studies, etc.
However, records have it that the setting of resolutions started as far back as 3,000 to 4,000 years ago at the start of the ancient Babylonian festival of Akitu, celebrated in April.
The first documented mention of a New Year’s resolution as we know it is found in the diary of Anne Halkett, a Scottish memoirist and writer of religious texts. It is on record that on 2 January 1671 she made a note of her intentions for the coming year under the heading ‘resolutions.’
The setting of New Year’s resolutions is often done with optimistic intent. But the literature says, by the second month of the year, about 64% of those setting their resolutions abandon their goals. Does this sound familiar?
Looking at your situation, what have you resolved to do differently in the new year as an individual or as an organisation or within a group?
You do not need to set many resolutions. Just make one or two, and be determined to follow it through. It is better to score 100% on the success of achieving one resolution than score 0% on 20 to 70 resolutions you couldn’t accomplish. You need not be like the New England theologian Jonathan Edwards of the 16th century, who created a list of 70 resolutions for himself to live by.
For our nation, Nigeria, we should resolve to put our neighbours first, aim at meritocracy and shun mediocrity and corruption.
For all the groups and organisations, I belong to, I would advise that we all resolve to be as supportive and less antagonistic or critical of one another as have been in the previous years.
As an individual, I have resolved that holding tenaciously to God in 2025 is not an option, it must be the only way for me.
What about you? If the above make any meaning to you, think about them, review the essence of your celebration of the cross over night, and commit to a resolution.
God bless. Happy New Year again.
Olugbemiro Jegede
00:01am
1st January 2025
