I often wonder why there is a flurry of excited activity around major festivals and events, especially around the New Year. The earth goes around the sun approximately every 365 and a quarter days. So every day is the start of a new cycle depending on where the earth is relative to the sun. The earth is going to be at the spot it was at the previous year that day, the next year. So why do we take a day in a calendar and get all fired up about it?
I too participate in wishing people on New Year’s especially and have had my share of staying awake till midnight to augur the next year and to celebrate with friends and family and so, I wonder about this human phenomenon.
We don’t see the rest of the animal kingdom do this. They, however, do celebrate in their own ways. Bears hibernate in winter. When spring is up, they step out and feast on the berries and whatever food they can eat out there. Every animal is in tune with nature. Humans, while starting with festivals that are in tune with nature also seem to have a penchant for creating new festivals.
It looks like we are all tuned to looking at cycles. We understand that the past has goods and bads, and we just want to look ahead for something new. We typically mourn the loss of people that are close to us, and yet we get excited when we see a newborn baby. I think this looking forward to something fresh, no matter what the past is, is what keeps life going in us. I feel like this is why we rejoice and get together to look ahead at the next year.
In an ideal world, every day should be… every moment should be a new year’s moment. Every second should be looked forward to as if it’s the first, because it is the first among the rest of our seconds in our life. Perhaps, we try our own ways to rejoice at the start of these cycles to jump start such a process internally. We are a species that is always looking ahead. The jolt of energy that it gives us to move forth for another 365 days and join our planet in its revolution around the sun is probably what we are trying to do.
In the Indian culture, years get names and every sixty years, the name of the years are repeated. I read that many South Asian cultures have a similar theme. I told somebody a few years ago who turned 60 that they get to start from age one now, based on the 60-year cycle! What if we treat a 60-cycle like a 60-minute cycle? We will then treat a year in our life like an hour. And every second of our year-hour is precious to live.
I wish all of my friends, all of my family, everybody that I know, and everybody that I don’t know, a great new beginning – to look ahead and forward to something new and find ways to find joy in your lives.
Mirror Aware 