On how the traditions are, evolving, with the newer generations, taking over from the older, and, some of these, older traditions stayed, and others, they're, done away with, that's how a civilization, evolves…translated…
The New Year's holidays just finished up, and came the brand new, Year of the Dragon, like we'd, gotten, used to the real new year that begins on the first of the Lunar calendar year, and the New Year's of the regular calendar became, like a prelude to the Chinese New Years. But historically, the people in the world, mostly have two dates for the brand new years.
On the biggest holidays of the western culture, no doubt, it's, Christmas, and the holiday seasons lands right around our New Year's holidays too. But in the ancient European originated civilization of Mesopotamia, before Jesus Chris, people celebrated the Spring Equinox. After this designated date, the nights and the day of the North and South Poles switched, the sun moved north, the Northern Hemisphere readies for the springtime of warmth. The Asian countries to this day, still designated the Spring Equinox as the New Year's.
The ancient Babylonians, who are before the Mesopotamians celebrated this quite excitedly, the civilians still, went out on the eating and drinking binges, but it'd become, trying for the ordinarily high up and mighty kings, high priests, and high priestesses. Four days before the Spring Equinox, the priests and priestesses started a marathon of prayers, and anointed the sacred temples with the holy waters to ward off the evils and to bring in the blessings. On the day of the Spring Equinox, came the turn of the appearances of the king, as he got on stage, he'd had to kneel before the high priest, to swear to him that he'd never done anything ill in the past year, and, the priest that stood opposite, is a symbol of God himself, at this time, he'd, started to, slap the emperor time and time again, best that he'd, pinched the emperor's noble ears too, because, the more pain the emperor showed, the more it'd, pleased the, gods, and, if the emperor shed tears from the pains, then, the year that follows would surely be, very, wonderful!
The ancient Indians also, celebrated the Spring Equinox, on this day, they would do away with the caste system they'd followed the rules of, walked onto the streets, and, start, splashing the colored powders on everyone they come across, symbolizing how the prince is, bathed in the blessings of their god. Persia of West Asia also, celebrated the Spring Equinox as their, New Year, their celebrations were the, most joyous of all. Other than the offerings, people would start a bonfire, circled around the fire to dance, and, called out, "Yellow for you, red for me", symbolizing chasing away the thin, yellow, the famished, to leave the fuller, red, face behind.
photo from online
As for Ancient Chinese, primarily, we'd, not celebrated the New Year's Eve nor the New Year's, but the winter solstice. Before the Tang Dynasty, every year around winter solstice, people would put on the new clothes, the emperor will pronounce that he was making an offering to the heavens, and his own ancestors, and there would be no court held. And, on the meals, it's not the sticky rice balls which are served right now, but the, dumplings. Dumplings were, foods of, extravagance from the ancient times, with the meats, and the vegetables wrapped in; on the first of the New Year, the people can only have the noodles called the "bu-tuo"—because they'd, spent all their money to nothing up to the winter solstice, they'd needed to return back to a simpler, diet on the New Year's. Reason why we loved the winter solstice, is because after this day, the days will grow longer, symbolizing the long hard winter is half gone, something worth, celebrating, on!
As for the Ancient Egyptians, their New Year's were the most unique—because they'd gone by the calendar of the Nile, and, nobody can tell which day the New Year's lands on for sure, only knew, that it's, around autumn; waiting until the Sirius rise up on the same day as the sun, when the Nile flooded, then, the New Year is here—hence the name, "Wepet Renpet". With a very, simple means of celebrating, the Egyptians were the inventors of beer, so other than making the offerings to the gods using the beers, just drank them all, up.
the Indians, celebrating their New Year's...photo from online
Set aside how the ancient civilizations celebrated the New Years different than we do, we don't celebrate the New Years same way as our elders, some of the old and outdated traditions are already, done away with one by one. Or maybe, after one, two more generations, New Years would become, totally, different too!
And so, this is on the evolution of culture, and how the traditions change with the evolutions of the cultures, like how we'd, done away with the olden means of ways of offering to those who'd died, on the New Year's, and, there will be newer generations that set up newer traditions of celebration of the New Years around the world too.
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