We are now on the brink of a universal celebration that bids farewell to an old year and welcomes the arrival of a new one.

The New Year has not been always so universal. In the distant past, different cultures and civilisations in different parts of the world celebrated some form of New Year on different dates. For instance, the Egyptians celebrated their New Year at the time the Nile flooded at the end of December. Our modern New Year that falls on the first day of January has not had a history longer than four centuries only.

The modern New Year can be traced to the ancient Babylonian civilisation some 4,000 years ago. They celebrated their New Year on the first new moon after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring), and it usually fell on the 23rd of March.

The choice of the date is logical. The power and the glory of Babylon depended on their agriculture, like ancient China and Egypt. What better day to mark the beginning of another cycle of hopefully abundant harvest than the first tremor of spring that announces the end of winter? There lies the symbolic meaning of the New Year for the ancients. It started a natural process of rebirth and renewal, as they look forward to the planting of new crops.

The modern practice of making New Year resolutions also has its source in ancient Babylon. Apparently, the most popular resolution for them was to return borrowed farm equipment!

The Romans continued to celebrate New Year in late March, but their calendar tended to be tempered with by various emperors for various political reasons.

Then in 46 BC, Emperor Julius Caesar changed it to January 1st to honour the god Janus, whose idol had two faces, one looking to the past, and the other to the future. In honour of the god, the month of January was created. Caesar himself gained a place in the calendar by being honoured with the month of July.

There were all kinds of problems with the Roman calendar. In any case, the Catholic Church in subsequent centuries banned the celebration of the New Year because of its pagan origin. Then in 1582, Pope Gregory XII initiated the modern calendar, fixing the New Year on January 1st once and for all, and that is why our modern version of keeping dates is called the Gregorian calendar.

The Gregorian calendar was considered to be a Christian calendar, and so was resisted by many countries with different cultural roots. This has been the case because the Gregorian calendar is calculated based on the movement of the sun, while many cultures based their calendar on the movement of the moon.

Nevertheless, with Westernisation and modernisation sweeping the whole world, many countries have come to accept this modern calendar with some reluctance. Japan accepted it in 1873, and China, in 1912. I understand that many countries with a predominantly Muslim population still go by the Lunar Calendar.

The midnight celebration

The modern practice of celebrating New Year Eve with a midnight cacophony of sound and fury also can be traced back to ancient source. It was an attempt to drive away evil spirit for the rest of the year, by making the loudest ruckus possible with a whole array of implements, ranging from sirens, horns, boat whistles, church bells, drums, to pots and pans.

In the Philippines, where guns are easily available, the people there fire into the air, causing many accidental deaths during every New Year Eve. I wonder if this year is any exception to the rule.

Likewise, unbridled drinking is also a leftover of a rite that was religious in character. The original spirit had been the personal re-enactment of the chaotic world that existed before the ordered cosmos was created by God.

As for the song Auld Lang Syne, it would be sung all over the world on New Year’s Eve (NYE) with a heavy touch of nostalgia. “Auld Lang Syne” in the Scottish tongue means simply “Old Long Ago”, or “The Good Old Days”. Various versions had existed before the 17th century. Then in the 1700s, the great poet Robert Burns rewrote part of it, and it was first published in 1796 after his death.

With the decline of the English language in Malaysia, I doubt if many young people will know the immortal lyrics of this great song.

Almost completely devoid of nostalgia, is the mammoth noisy hedonistic street party on the eve of New Year at the centre of most cities of the world, reaching a peak with the countdown to the magic hour of midnight.

The most famous street party is probably the New York Times Square NYE gathering. That too has a long history. It started in 1904 to commemorate the official opening of the New York Times headquarters. That illustrious newspaper in the US has since contributed in no small measures to the growth of democracy and freedom of the press in their political evolution.

As the young people start their NYE countdown, they would have little inkling of history. The enthusiasm of youth for the future is complemented only by their ignorance of the past.

Not easy for the young

One must not be too harsh on the young though. It is not easy to be a young Malaysian in these fast changing times.

New generations of Malaysian youths are generally excluded from the nation’s political process, except for the single act of casting their vote once every five years. Exclusion breeds apathy, and so some five million youths have not yet registered to vote in the next election in a few months’ time.

They are expected to find a job at an early age to supplement the family income in the face of spiraling inflation. Few Malaysian employers are really magnanimous, and so young employees tend to work long hours with little hope of a big bonus and a hefty wage rise every year. Few youths find jobs that they really like.

Then they have to struggle with family traditions and social obligations; ours is a constrictive conservative society, and few youths are allowed to explore into the unknown territory of their individuality. So, they seek individuality through the latest trend in hair style and dress, ending up looking like everybody else.

Many young workers become indebted early, through the hire-purchase of a motor vehicle that has become a necessity in city living, and over-indulgences with the help of their credit cards. Given the high cost of living these days, the idea of starting a family with children must be a prohibiting and daunting prospect. Few have chosen to marry young. Meanwhile, they have to struggle with dating the right partner, with all the dizzying trauma of love and sex.

So, if the youths of all races in Kuala Lumpur want to participate in the mammoth street party along Jalan Bukit Bintang and elsewhere in Kuala Lumpur on NYE, to let their multi-coloured hair down, to let off their youthful steam, and to indulge in some irrational Dionysian pleasures, let them be - as long as they do not drink and drive.

The young ought to celebrate the onset of a spanking new year, because they have a future before them, and hope must burn eternal in their breasts. Ageing and retired people like me have no future and career path - except the prospect certain death ahead after an unknown number of New Years - and may therefore beg to abstain from youthful tomfoolery on the open street.

A break from bad politics

I shall read a book deep into the night on NYE. When age creeps on you like the biblical “thief in the night”, all you want is some peace and quiet. After all, having experienced many changes of the seasons, an ageing person is more likely to treat New Years with some indifference. It is just another New Year.

After the New Year, there would be another general election in Malaysia. As the chairman of the Election Commission has stated publicly, you do not need elections to predict which party will be in power! So what is so new about the New Year?

The thing to guard against in one’s sunset years though, is bitterness. Once it festers and grows in the soul, the golden years turn into a barren desert of disenchantment, disappointment, and hard-hearted cynicism. There is really no fool like an old fool.

Young or old, everybody needs a break sometimes. I wish I can get a break from witnessing bad politics in Malaysia once in a while.

Happy New Year everyone! See you in this column next year.