Drinking the Stars

At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the people of Holland light up the New Year by burning their Christmas trees. In London, traditional crowds gather in Piccadilly Circus and await the chimes of Big Ben to herald in the New Year. In Sydney, Australia, the folks down under have a tremendous fireworks display, but the celebration of New Year’s Day on January 1 is a relatively new tradition.

The Babylonians celebrated the New Year in March, the Persians in April, and the ancient Mayans in July. The Roman calendar in 153 BC was the first to list New Year’s Day on January 1. The Chinese, however, bring in the New Year on a different day every year.

In China, the second new moon after the winter solstice is New Year’s Day, and the seventh day of the Chinese New Year is the huge celebration of Everybody’s Birthday. The origins of the traditional Chinese New Year and the real reason that the Chinese celebrate is from an age-old story from long ago.

Once upon a time and prowling amongst all the provinces of China were scary monsters. The monsters were always living in caves and came out only to frighten the people of nearby cities, townships, and villages. For centuries, everyone was living in terror until one day a visitor arrived from beyond the Great Wall. The visitor was a tall man and dressed entirely in red. When one of the monsters arrived on a terrorizing spree, the visitor was watching carefully as one of the winged ogres began to flinch from the sharp snapping sounds of everyone slamming their window shutters closed. Upon noticing the monster’s fear of loud noises, the visitor stepped from around a corner and faced the rampaging beast. When the monster saw the unusual bright color of red on the visitor's clothing, combined with the loud sounds of the slamming of shutters, the beast was terrified. At once, the dragon-like creature fled back to his cave, destroyed the entrance to his underground lair, and to this day, is only heard and felt when the earth moves and fire and smoke belch from newly born mountains rising out of the earth.

Today, China ushers in the New Year with red banners, red costumes, red firecrackers, and red envelopes filled with money. In the Chinese New Year’s parades, endless snapping firecrackers pop continuously to keep the legendary monsters under the ground and hiding in their long-lost caves.

In Scotland, the Scottish celebrate Hogmanay. This ritualistic tradition dates back to the eighth century when Vikings invaded the highlands. The Norsemen were from an even higher latitude than Scotland and were more than ready to celebrate when the longest night of winter was past. Today, the Scotts march down the high streets carrying torches while other members of the New Year’s parade carry sticks wrapped with flammable animal hide. When the animal hides burst into flames, the smoking sticks are waved above the crowds to ward off evil spirits. The smoking sticks are Hogmanay or Yule after the Viking legacy.

After the torchlight parade is over, the Scotts are ready to party. For over 400 years, everyone in Scotland has highly anticipated the New Year’s celebration because even as late as the 1960s, most of the people of Scotland did not celebrate Christmas. Over four centuries ago a strict Scottish laird banned Christmas as a popish and poppycock! As a predominantly protestant Scotland, many Scotts worked through Christmas even through the mid-20th century. As most Scots love any excuse to party and many highlanders resent missing Christmas, Hogmanay in Scotland just might be the biggest New Year’s party in the world.

“First Footing,” or the first foot in the house is another big tradition for the Scotts. This is a widely practiced celebratory ritual beginning just after midnight on New Year’s Eve. After the bells of midnight, if a dark stranger is the first to pass through the welcoming door, the New Year will bring good luck. If a redhead from the Viking era arrives first upon the threshold, bad luck is surely to follow. No matter who arrives first, a huge party begins and lasts until the wee hours with lots of merrymaking, whiskey drinking, and kissing door-to-door under the mistletoe. The Scotts party so hard that January 2 is also a national holiday!

Scotland also seems to be the birthplace of New Year’s resolutions. Before the chimes of the midnight bells, the Scotts believe in “hauling out the ashes,” cleaning the house, and paying off all old debts to make sure the New Year begins on a fresh and happy note. Robert Burns of Scotland wrote Auld Lang Syne in 1788 and to this day, just after the bells of midnight, the bagpipes swell and everyone joins in to sing the most recognized song in the world.

One modern drinking tradition for Beach Boys and Girls everywhere is from an old story from France. Several centuries ago, a Benedictine monk was having trouble with his wine cellar. He was in charge of the yearly wine production but some of the wine bottles were exploding. After several experiments with thicker glass for the bottles, Portugal corks instead of wood, and the necks and corks of the bottles tied together with oily hemp strings, most of the bottles did not explode after extra sugar was added during the fermentation process. After a relatively quiet vintage, without exploding bottles, the monk who was Dom Perignon, opened several of the thicker bottles and was astonished to see tiny bubbles rising in the wine to meet the glowing candlelight. Upon tasting the first bubbly, he called to his brother Benedictines: “Come and taste the wine my brothers, and together, we will be drinking the stars.”