Monday, January 1, 2024 is the first day of a brand new year! We made it out of 2020! And 2021! And 2022! And now 2023!
Happy New Year!
Today is the 8th Day of Christmas:
“On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 8 maids a-milking.”
For the significance of each day of Christmas, see: Good Housekeeping.com. (The 8 Maids A-milking are the eight beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount):
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Today is First Foot Day! This is a New Year’s custom that started in Scotland. The superstition goes back to the era of the Viking raiders when a fair-haired Norseman at a Scotsman’s door meant trouble.
If the first person to set foot in your house on the morning of January 1 is a dark-haired male, you will have good luck for the entire year. Ideally a first footer should bring gifts, such as:
- a lump of coal to symbolize warmth all year
- a silver coin for wealth and prosperity
- some bread so you’ll never be hungry
After greeting everyone in the house, the first footer must exit through a different door from the one he had entered. Nobody should leave the house before the first footer shows up because the first traffic across the threshold should be coming in, not going out.
Blonde and red-haired male first footers bring BAD LUCK.
A female first footer spells DISASTER on the entire household.
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Another superstition associated with New Year’s Day says one should not do laundry, do dishes, or sweep on this day. But, in China and Latin America, a legend suggests that you can literally sweep negativity away!
And one should not eat chicken today. Some believe that because chickens have wings, your luck will fly away if you have it on New Year’s.
January 1st is also National Bloody Mary Day. A Bloody Mary is a cocktail containing vodka, tomato juice, and combinations of other spices and flavorings. It is popular as a cure for hangover – from too much New Year’s Eve partying, maybe.
As a religious holiday, Jan 1 celebrates the Circumcision of Jesus, 8 days after birth in keeping with Jewish law. It is of significant medical importance that male circumcision be carried out on the eighth day after birth since the level of vitamin K is highest on this day and vitamin K plays a pivotal role in regulation and control of the important clotting factors in the coagulation pathway that helps in stopping bleeding.
AND, January 1st is the feast day of St. Basil, patron of hospital administrators. St. Basil came from a very holy family. It is remarkable to note that from the ten siblings in St. Basil’s family, five children became saints: St. Basil, who became the Archbishop of Caesarea; St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa; St. Peter, Bishop of Sebaste, St. Naucratius, and St. Macrina, as well as his grandmother, St. Macrina and his mother, St. Emellia.
Traditionally on St. Basil’s Day a St. Basil’s cake is made with a coin inside. Whoever gets the coin will have good luck for the entire year. Recipe here food.com
Publication of Federalist Paper #31:Concerning the General Power of Taxation written by Alexander Hamilton in 1788. The opponents to the Constitution argue that the federal government will usurp the rights of the states by creating a monopoly on taxation and that the states would eventually be excluded and destroyed. Hamilton argues that a representative legislature would prevent that from happening.
New Year’s Day is celebrated by the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California (begin in 1890), the Mummer’s Day parade in Philadelphia, and the Mobile Carnival in Mobile, Alabama, birthplace of the Mardi Gras.
If that’s not enough, January 1 is also the birthday of:
Paul Revere (1735),
Anthony Wayne (1745), American Revolutionary War officer known as “Mad Anthony”,
Betsy Ross (1752), and
J. Edgar Hoover (1895).
In 1808 the importation of slaves was banned in the United States.
January 1 is the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 when Lincoln freed the slaves in the Confederate states….said nothing about the slaves in the North.
In 1892 Ellis Island opened to begin processing LEGAL immigrants into the U.S.
Happy New Year one and all!