The magic behind the New Year celebrations

For decades, we universally tend to look at the 1st of January as the threshold of some significant new beginning. Regardless of any religious or calendar differences, the New Year celebrations are infused with magic, inherent in the essence of the festivities and weaved into the DNA of our being. Faithful to the example set more than two thousand years ago by God Janus, on that day, we choose to simultaneously meditate on the past and muse on the future, dreaming of change: a resolution of some sort that we embrace fervently with the innocence and faith of a child. Once more, everything is possible.

There is nothing new in humanity’s need to honour the end of a cycle and celebrate the birth of another. The 1st of January, though, carries a weight disproportionate to the occasion, its promise deriving not so much from the perpetuity of the cycles but, rather, the energy of our unity. Amidst all the fragmentation that we have imposed on ourselves, once per year, we choose to join hands and launch together rockets of desire, hope, and joy. Despite the practice, we have not grasped yet the power that our positive thoughts and feelings can have when combined. Still, with the tenacity of our species, we keep on trying, and we keep on dreaming. Today, this is more than enough.

Photo credits: © Konstantina Sakellariou