What is the history of New Year Resolutions

Every year, many of us make New Year resolutions and, predictably, many of these resolutions are often not kept. While this seems to us as an annual ritual, the history of New Year resolutions is ancient and, just like today, people in the distant past likely struggled with their resolutions. In fact, they created incentives for people to follow through with their resolutions by invoking the gods.

Early History

The oldest recorded New Year resolution dates to about 2000 BC from ancient southern Mesopotamia, in today's southern Iraq, where the New Year, which occurred at about March 20th in their calendar, would be celebrated in the so-called Akitu festival. The festival was about renewal and looking forward to the New Year. People made oaths to their king as part of this ritual; however, there were also more personal resolutions made. If people borrowed goods from their neighbours or others, they were to return those goods as part of their resolution. Debts were also to be repaid in the New Year and people were suppose to make oaths to the gods related to this. Individuals would also likely sacrifice to their gods and would hope by keeping their word to fulfill their obligations then the gods would return favour upon them for a successful year. The Achaemenids and Persin cultures would give each other eggs on New Year to wish each other good luck and to reflect on the New Year. Similarly, the Romans, after Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 45 BC and made January (or the god Janus) the official start of the year, celebrated the New Year by making resolutions. What was different about the Julian Calendar is it marked the first time January 1 was the official start of the year and later became the basis for the Western calendar. In fact, the god Janus was a god who looked backward and forward and occupied doorways, which reflected the entry of a new beginning symbolically for Romans. The New Year was seen as a time of reflection and promises by Romans to lead a better life. Sacrifices and offerings to the gods, and Janus in particular, would be made. It was also seen as a time of forgiveness and mistakes one perhaps made with others would be reconciled during the Near Year, making it a time of renewal.

In the early Medieval period, celebrating the New Year was not as common and, in fact, celebrations were probably subdued. However, by the late Medieval period and early Modern period, the clergy did ask their congregation to use the New Year as a time of reflection and to correct mistakes of the past to live a better, less sinful life. Knights would also renew promises by making vows to live a chivalrous life. The Methodists, in the 18th century under John Wesley, made a special service for New Year, called the Covenant Renewal. This included prayer and hymns where congregants would renew their commitment to God and each other. However, secular celebrations of New Year did become increasingly common in the 18th century. In fact, it was the secular celebrations of New Year that prompted the Methodists and other Protestant churches to commit to New Year services as a way to start the New Year. This tradition still continues in many Protestant and non-Protestant denominations today.