And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been. Rainer Maria Rilke

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I was suppose to be back on 12/28—sorry it’s just been an unusually busy holiday season…but hopefully things will settle down a bit now and I can get my blog on regularly.   Today I’m gonna look at New Years traditions.

Of course I’ll end with the best Scot ever and then I’ll drop in a tired stupor.

Oh the pictures are from assorted sources….just photogenic rambling.

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Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Did you ever wonder how things got started–especially New Years thing…..I think one of the first things I think about with New Years is the resolution that so many people make and so few keep.   Well if you made some you stand in the footsteps of thousands, probably many more as the speculations go that it all started in Ancient Babylon where it was done to gain the favor of one or more of their gods….

Did you make one this year and what was your motivation…..we still are a nation that prays and attends church so mayhaps you made the promise in regard to sins…or was it your efforts to meet some goals….either business or personal that it is important to you and possibly others in the year?  There are just about as many possibilities as there are people out there—we all move to a different drum and with different motivations.

Oh and according to Forbes only 8% of the people who make those resolutions keep them.  So do you make and do you keep….I’m a non-maker….I think I tried it once or twice back when I thought I had some control over my life but when I finally gave up on that it just didn’t seem something that would work considering so…..

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Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier.’

Alfred Lord Tennyson

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In some countries (Sweden & Norway) eating rice pudding at New Years has become a tradition….though I can’t believe it can be too old as rice was not  a native food of that northern clime,

Of course January is named after Janus–the Roman god and the naming of the first month of the new year after that god is attributed to Julius Cesar in around 46 BC.  It is amazing that the name has stuck for about 2,000 years when we are so forgetful of so many other details of history and tradition.

According to the Huffington Post certain Latin Countries like Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Peru get new underwear to wear to celebrate the beginning of the new years…and they even have color codes for it for example if you’re looking for love you wear red and if it’s money you’d prefer then you get green.

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Each age has deemed the new-born year the fittest time for festal cheer.

Walter Scott

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In India and I’m sure everywhere traditional Indian Culture still lives on– the Hindu festival of lights:  Diwali marks the new years with lanterns and fireworks….a triumph of good over evil—light over darkness.  Kinda makes all our fireworks much more positive thinking of them that way.

According to MSN modern Greeks hang onions about their doors for prosperity and good luck and often break up a pomegranate outside the door before entering their house before they enter on New Years Day–I can just hear the lady of the house shouting “σκουπίστε το ρόδι από τα πόδια σας, πριν να έρθει στο σπίτι”  That’s “wipe the pomegranate off your feet before you come in the house” to the none Greek speakers out there.

According to CBS this year  two people died and 12 more were hospitalized from eating Mochi cakes (a gliutinous speciality made from pounded steamed rice that’s only eaten at New Years).  Seems that the cake is very dense and sticky and poses problems especially for the elderly.  There have actually been campaigns to get people to eat smaller pieces so as making it easier to swallow.   In 2015,  9 people were found to have died from direct cause of eating these.

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Even Snopes has gotten in on the New Years tradition info with a note that we kiss our significant others at midnight on New Years Even to ensure our love continues thru the new year and that the tradition is that failing to do so will result in coldness (perhaps loss of affection–my interpretation not theirs and break up?) into the new year.  Ouch who knew a little kiss could mean so much.

According to Wikipedia in Mexico it has been traditional to eat a grape at each chime of the 12 required to reach the new year…and with each grape eaten you make a wish….they didn’t say if there are any other requirements like you have to swallow or spit out the seeds or if it’s a different result if you use seedless vs seedy ones…

Oh and that Auld Lang Syne that is sang by many at the crucial hour–well it’s Scottish as you all know and it’s a folk song that according to USA today is credited to Burns in the 18th century, but probably only because he wrote down the existing words and not because he actually wrote them (something he continued to do with other ancient verse his whole life).   It’s meaning is translated most often as “old long since” but  “old time sake” is probably the most close to its actual meaning.   It came to the US by way of Guy Lombardo, a band leader in the long ago days before the internet—hey not even those old tube type TV’s…in the late 1920’s and he played it every New Years on his Radio show and later TV from 1929 – 1977.  after close to 50 years I guess we were pretty hooked on the thing.

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I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.

Neil Gaiman

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Check out New Year Wishes from Sam:  http://www.ibtimes.com/outlander-star-sam-heughan-wishes-fans-happy-new-year-season-3-set-2468143

A look at everything (almost) we know so far about season 3 http://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/outlander/255879/outlander-season-3-release-date-cast-and-latest-news

and finally another win for Outlander:  http://cartermatt.com/237299/cartermatt-awards-2016-results-outlander-takes-home-show-year/

Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.

Cavett Robert

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I think in terms of the day’s resolutions, not the years’.

Henry Moore

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All of us every single year, we’re a different person. I don’t think we’re the same person all our lives.

Steven Sp        ielberg

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