New Year’s Resolutions

According to goalsguy.com, the top two New Year’s resolutions are to lose weight and stick to your budget. Every year on New Year’s Day millions of people make New Year’s resolutions but very few are able to stick to them for more than two weeks. If you are like most people, then you have made a New Year’s resolution at one time. But you probably are not familiar with the history of New Year’s resolutions. Where did they originate from? What are some global New Year’s traditions? Read on and find out more.
New Year’s resolutions date all the way back to 153 B.C. when Janus, the mythical king of Rome was placed at the beginning of the Roman calendar. Janus became the symbol for resolutions. People looked to him for forgiveness from enemies. They also had a gift exchange before the beginning of each New Year.
The tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year’s Eve was begun by the Romans. They gave each other branches from scared trees for good luck. Later nuts or coins became common gifts.
Many countries have their own traditions for good luck in the New Year. In the U.S, we watch a ball drop and kiss their significant other. In Spain, the Spanish eat twelve grapes one for every clock toll for good luck in the coming year. Peru takes the Spanish tradition one step further. Thirteen grapes are eaten including one for good luck. In Norway, they make rice pudding and hide a whole almond in the pudding. Wealth is guaranteed to the person who eats the almond.
Well, that is the history of New Year’s resolutions in a nutshell. You also learned about some cool global traditions. For more information, visit
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-New-Years-Resolutions&id=245213
And
http://www.goalsguy.com/events/n_top-ten-resolutions.html
Until next time, Happy Resolution making!