Conference hydra::dejavu

1404.0. "Happy New Year for the Symbol-Minded" by LESCOM::KALLIS (Pumpkins -- Nature's greatest gift.) Fri Dec 28 1990 14:43

                        -< The season is upon us >-

Well, the cartoonists will be at it again; and soon we'll see the old
fellow with the scythe and the baby with the discreetly placed banner
with the upcoming year's date emblazoned thereon.  Some folk will tune in
to the festivities at Times Square where a huge replica of an apple will
drop so that, barring unforeseen variations in the coefficient of friction
as it slides down its rails, it will impact at the tick of Midnight.  [I
parenthetically point out that, in order to keep sidereal identity, a leap-
second was added this year.]  People watching reruns of _Holiday Inn_ can
hear Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby sing "Kissing the Old Year Out"; others
might dust off tapes of Guy Lombardo playing "Auld Lang Syne."

All this sentimental activity leads me to reflect, as it were, on origins.
Particularly on the origins of New Year's Day.

New Year's comes close to the "shortest day" of the year.  Actually, it's no 
shorter than any other day (save those with a leap-second), but in the Northern
Hemisphere, it's the day with the least amount of time the sun is above the
horizon.  The "it" here is the winter solstice, which generally falls on the
21st of December, give or take a day.

In some cultures, the winter solstice represented the death (and rebirth) of the
sun.  Particularly to agrarian cultures (some of whom adopted other days as
New Year's), everything was cyclical -- birth, growth, ripening, death/seeds,
rebirth -- and there was no reason not to include the world as part of that
process.  So, as the old year "dies," a new year is "born."

But the various symbols -- their origins are interesting.  Why does the old year
carry a scythe, for instance?  That can be found in Greco-Roman mythology.
Before Jupiter [Zeus] became the chief god, his father, Saturn [Kronos] ruled.
Kronos (to stick to the original Greek name) didn't want to be supplanted, so
as his wife bore him children, he ate them.  But when she bore Zeus, she hid 
the child and fed Kronos a boulder disguised as a baby; when Zeus grew up, he
deposed Kronos; though the details of what he did in the process are immaterial,
Kronos was given a very subordinate role in the Greco-Roman pantheon.  Except
.... 

The Greek Kronos sounds identical to the Latin "Chronos," meaning "time."
Thus, Kronos [Saturn] became identified with time, and since time eventually
wreaks havoc on the thing it produces (via aging), this can be related to the
image of a father devouring his children.  Thus, one aspect of Saturn is the
"Father Time" image ... the old man with the scythe that cuts down things.
(Which further evolved to the Grim Reaper image of death; Saturn has had some
unpleasant associations.)  In a more modern sense, Saturn has been associated
with the metal lead, and lead is the last, inert, residuum of the process of
natural radioactive decay in radium.  Make what you will of that.

Anyway, end of the old year was associated with Saturn; and around the time of
the winter solstice, the ancient Romans had a celebration/festival called
"Saturnalia" at which they exchanged gifts (and which the day of Christmas 
supplanted; we'll get to that part of the symbolism shortly).  Soon after 
Saturnalia, January (named to honor the Roman god, Janus) began, and with it,
the new year.  [Janus had two faces.  One faced like everybody else's; the
other faced to the rear, so he could see both forward and backward.  Not only
is that a valid symbol for the start of a new year, but the two-faced aspect
makes it an ideal totem for certain professions.]

Now, it's unclear just when Jesus was born.  [Whether one's a Christian or
otherwise, the following explains just why January 1 falls now where it does,
rather than at the logical time, the winter solstice.]  Hints in the Bible
suggest that it might have been in the spring; yet December 25 is recognized
by the majority of non-Eastern-Orthodox Christians as "Jesus' birthday," which 
is probably in error.  The reason for this is the result of two factors: the
official adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire,
and traditional festivities in that same empire.  To discourage new converts
to Christianity from reverting to the revelry of the Saturnalia, the Church
leaders decreed a mass dedicated to the observance of Jesus being born.  Note
that this did not mean that the elders said that it was Jesus' birthday; only
that it was a day set aside to commemorate that the Son of God was manifested
as a child from a human mother.  This "Christ's Mass" included some gift-giving
(just as the Saturnalia did), thus layering the new religion on an old tradition
-- and acting as an incentive to keep the new converts from going to various
Saturnalia gatherings (one cannot be two places at once).  In time, in the
popular mind, the "Christ's Mass" became understood to be "Jesus' birthday"; 
and the gift-giving with the gifts of the Magi (gold, frankincense, and myrrh)
to the Christ child.

What has this to do with New Year's Day?  Simple: Jesus was born into a
Jewish heritage.  Traditionally, a week after a baby boy is born, he is
circumcised.  New Year's Day comes a week after Christmas.

    Nowadays, many cultures have accepted the "official" calendar
    (preferring CE -- "Common Era" -- to AD -- Anno Domini [in the year of
    our Lord] -- because they don't share the Christian faith).  But some
    still adopt the symbols; some of which, as it happens, the Christians
    adopted in turn.
    
Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Steve,
    
    Extremely interesting information.  Happy New Year to
    you!
    
    Joel
    

    re: .0 (Steve)
    
         Yeah, thanks.  If not for you I'd probably still think that
    Saturn had something to do with General Motors...    ;-)
    
    Frederick
    

    
    	Thank you Steve, I am always interrested in such explainations ...
    
    	Rita

    Speaking of symbols, NPR reported this morning that while President
    Bush was strolling through the rose garden (perhaps meditating on his
    influence on the world's fate), high in the sky to the south east (not
    sure of the direction) over the Washington monument (an obelisk) was a
    quite distinct cross formed from clouds.
    
    DR

    DR,
    	Whether he was watching is one good question, 
    	what it means is another.

"One measures a circle, beginning anywhere."  -- Charles Hoy Fort.

The old year passeth shortly, and the new year will commence thereafter.  In .0,
I went into the New Year's symbolism in some depth, so now a little ancillary
symbolism, just for fun.

The Father Time aspect of Kronos/Saturn is usually shown both with a scythe
(already explained) and an hourglass.  The hourglass is an interesting symbol
in its own right; but a good question is why in theese days of LCD watches and
clocks, the hourglass persists.

Originally, the hourglass was one of the few fairly accurate means of measuring
time.  I've seen hourglasses that are remarkably accurate, though I suspect they
were calibrated by people with watches or highly accurate clocks.  Prior to the
hourglass, there were water clocks (which substituted water for sand) and 
sundials.

A sundial is very inaccurate because of a number of factors relating to 
the inclination of the Earth and the eccentricity of its orbit, leading both to
unequal periods of light and darkness and secondary "timing" problems of sunrise
and sunset.  Thus, in Boston, at the shortest "daylight" day (Winter Solstice)
the daylight is only 9 hours and 5 minutes long; at its greatest duration (Sum-
mer Solstice), the day at the same location is 15 hours and 17 minutes long.
If a "day" is defined as 12 equal divisions of the sunlit period and 12 equal
divisions of the night, one can see that the "absolute" length of hours could 
vary in Boston by as much as 30 minutes each hour, from the "longest" day to the
"shortest.  [Aside:  Such "solar hours" or "planetary hours" are used in some
occult traditions; however, for everyday activities, it makes things unneces-
sisarily complicated.]  

Outside the relative accurascy of the hourglass, though, why has its image per-
sisted?  Probably because it represents a measured state of time, which an 
observer can see being consumed.  If instead of an hourglass, we had a 
"Yearglass," something technically possible, we could see at a glance how 
much of the year had passed and how much remained.  Thus, the hourglass and its
ilk (e.g., the egg timer) represent time intervals as discrete quantities, with
a beginning and an end.  Just like a year has -- or a lifetime.

Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Re .6
    
    Perhaps another reason for the popularity of the hourglass is that is
    has a simple but distinctive shape -- always desireable in a logo.
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    re: .7 (Earl)
    
        You mean that the hourglass was modeled in the shape of a
    woman?   Is this why the design is so popular?  Is this why it
    endures?  Is this why it's desirable?  These, and other equally
    significant questions are begging to be answered...
    
    Logo of my eggo,
    Frederick
    

    Re .8
    
    That association occurred to me, but even without it, the shape is
    still simple and significant.
    
    ESW

    You can also watch the sand through the hourglass, like the
    sweep of a second hand, and brood about the passage of
    time.
    
    Joel
    

    re: .10 (Joel)
    
         Or, you could film or videotape it, put some music to it
    and have an announcer say something like "And these are the Days
    of our Lives."
    
    ;-)
    Frederick
    

    At this point, I'd take the film and run it verrrry slowly.
    
    Joel