By the first day of each year, many people decide to draw up a new list of goals they wish to achieve over the next 12 months, which may be a loss of weight, a commitment to sport, or learning a new language and other aspirations for professional and cognitive development, until the step is one of the most popular and popular at the end and beginning of each year.
Whether or not a person adheres to those resolutions is a historical tradition that is widely promoted today, although many do not know that it goes back thousands of years, bearing deep symbolism and religious and moral significance in many civilizations.
The concept of the annual list of tasks belongs to the Babylonian era
The idea of the New Year's resolutions lists in their current form is believed to date back to the old Babylonian era, more than 4 thousand years ago, as the Babylonians were the first to record and set their goals for the New Year, as they documented what had been achieved over the past year.
The Babylonian New Year was beginning in mid-March to celebrate crop cultivation. The New Year was a 12-day religious celebration known as "Akito", at which time the people were either crowned new King or re-celebrated their loyalty to the reigning King.
At that time, the list of New Year's resolutions had been made in the form of promises to the gods, and the Babylonians had given a section to their gods to restore tools and borrowed wealth and repay their debts and promised to fulfil the rights.
As people keep their promises, the gods will give them luck and blessing over the next year, but if they do not abide by them, they may go out of the gods' favor, with losses and misfortunes.
New Year's Goals for Ancient Egyptians
In ancient Egypt, people also participated in a historic celebration dating back more than 5 thousand years to celebrate the end and beginning of a new year, called "Wepet Renpet", which in ancient Egyptian means "opening of the year".
Although there is no documented history of the concept of listing New Year's resolutions early in ancient Egypt, historians believe that ancient Egyptians were the first to celebrate the beginning of the year, and identified wishes and aspirations in their religious prayers during the celebrations, which were somewhat similar to the lists of goals of the year currently being written, but in a different religious form.
The Romanian and Christian impact on the concept of "New Year's Goals"
Unlike the influence of Egyptians and Babylonians on the concept we know today, Roman civilization was the first civilization to prepare for what are now known as New Year's goal lists to encourage achievements and actions.
In 46 B.C., Julius Caesar set January 1 as the beginning of the New Year, and the month was named after the Roman god Janus.
A belief at the time was that Janus' spirit took a changing form living in the arches of temples, so the Romans believed that Janus could have looked back the previous year as well as the future to see events that had not yet occurred.
So, the Romans were making sacrifices and promises to God in desire of blessing, goodness and mercies in the coming year.
New Year's Goals in the Middle Ages
Some modern generations in Europe have also followed the same tradition of using the New Year as an opportunity to reflect on the past and look forward. The end of the year was an occasion to look at the past's mistakes and seek ways to modify and improve them next year.
The concept of the New Year's goals continued in the Middle Ages, with the Knights doing what was known as the annual "peacock vows" by the end of the year, renewing their decisions to preserve equestrian values by putting their hands on a living peacock.
By the 17th century New Year's resolutions had become more common, in 1671 Scottish author Anne Halkett mentioned several decisions in her January 2 memoir, such as "I Will Not Be Abused Anymore."
The basic Christian tradition was also associated with New Year's resolutions, with John Wesley establishing the founder of the Christian Methodology, or "Methodism", to correct the English Church from within, a service known as "Rejuvenation of the Covenant" in 1740.
The service became known in churches as the "Night of Viewing", was held on New Year's Eve, and included Bible readings with activities to make collective and religious decisions to begin a new page of committed Christian behaviour.
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