In my book ‘Longing for Home’ Irena and Seamus blend Irish and Slovenian traditions. I didn’t write about New Years as it wasn’t essential to the story, but I wondered what they had in common and what the differences were.
Both cultures had beliefs that what you did on New Years predicted what you would do for the rest of the year. If you got up early on New Years you would get up early all year. I’m planning on sleeping in on New Years, but I still predict I will get up early all year. The Irish also like to start the new year with a clean house. I’m all for that, a clean start is a good thing. Both cultures have multiple superstitions around trying to influence the possibility of having enough to eat in the new year from beating the door with bread in Ireland to eating special bread that is shared with livestock in Slovenia. Then there are the traditions around looking back at the year, poignantly setting a place for whoever died during the year in Ireland.
As I reviewed the traditions I was struck by how much they try to influence the future in a world in which humans were at the mercy of the weather, un-treatable illnesses and unpredictable overlords. It must have been comforting to have rituals to enact that gave the feeling of being in control. Of course from my warm safe house with a full pantry it is easy to scoff and dismiss the superstitions of the past. I am not totally free of them though. Isn’t the tradition of making new years’s resolutions really about trying to get some control over the new year?
I’m trying to not make specific new year’s resolutions that I know I will feel like a failure about in March. Instead I’m making a more general resolution to take better care of my health. That way I’ll have a little more flexibility. Do I want to spend time improving my diet or trying to get a little more sleep? I’ll decide as I go. Hopefully the general resolution will help me to be a little kinder to myself and not stress so much when I don’t meet preset goals.
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