New Delhi: One of the most favourite celebrations across the world is that of a New Year! New Year is not just about changing the calendar or a mere holiday, infact it is more about beginning a new chapter in life, new resolutions, new goals and of course new zest and zeal.
No matter what country you live in or what you religion you follow, one cannot escape the celebrations of ‘New Year'.
While people prefer partying hard on the New Year's Eve, a happy beginning of the year is believed to bring along a hope for more prosperous 365 days.
However, there are several interesting fun facts about the New Year celebrations which you are just not aware of.
So before you start planning your New Year eve this year and look forward to welcome 2016 whole-heartedly, here we bring to you some rare known fun facts about this big day.
1. The first New Year was celebrated 4,000 years by the ancient Babylonians. Infact, Julius Caesar, the emperor of Rome, was the first to declare January 1 a national holiday. He named the month after Janus, the Roman god of doors and gates.
2. It's tradition to ring in New Year's with family and friends because the first people you see will either give you good luck or bad luck. So make sure to keep friends close and foes very far away.
3. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau statistics, more vehicles are stolen on New Year's Day than any other holiday.
4. The city of Sydney in Australia marks the biggest celebrations of New Year, as more than 80,000 fireworks are set off from Sydney Harbour Bridge. Apart from Sydney, the top three places to celebrate New Year's Eve are Las Vegas, Disney World and of course, New York City.
5. In Italy, people wear red underwear on New Year's Day to bring good luck all year long.
6. In Colombia, Cuba and Puerto Rico, some families stuff a large doll, which is called Mr. Old Year, with memories from the past year. They also dress him in clothes from the outgoing year. At midnight, he is set ablaze, thus burning away the bad memories.
7. It's good luck to eat foods like black eyed peas, ham and cabbage because it is thought they bring prosperity. But if you want to have a happy new year, don't eat lobster or chicken. Lobsters can move backward and chickens can scratch in reverse, so it is thought these foods could bring a reversal of fortune.
8. In ancient Rome the New Year began on March 1.
9. The traditional New Year's song, “Auld Lang Syne,” means, “times gone by” which was written by Poet Robert Burns in 1788
10. The top 10 resolutions are usually to lose weight, eat more healthily, exercise more, stop smoking, stick to a budget, save money, get more organized, be more patient, find a better job and to just be a better person over all.
