The tradition of making a resolution on New Year's Day
and trying to stick with it for a whole year has been
done for centuries. Here's how modern promises to lose
weight, quit smoking and work harder have evolved from
humble beginnings.
2,000 BCE: Babylonians return borrowed items
The ancient Babylonians celebrated New Year's March 23
and marked the day by returning something borrowed from
neighbors the previous year. It was the first time in
history a New Year's resolution was made as far as
historians have discovered.
154 BCE: Roman Senate and the god Janus
The Roman Senate decided to be different in 154 BCE and
declared Jan. 1 the first day of the new year instead of
March as before. The god Janus is often seen with two
heads, one looking forward and one looking behind, which
is symbolic of the ending of the old year and bringing
in the new. Because the Senate resolved to change the
date of the new year, making a resolution became even
more prominent.
1722: Jonathan Edwards' "Resolutions"
Although not written for the New Year, Puritan
theologian Jonathan Edwards wrote a set of 70
resolutions starting in 1722 that he prescribed reading
at least once a week. Many of Edwards' resolutions
became the basis for modern sayings such as "never lose
one moment of time" or "live with all my might."
1738: "Poor Richard's Almanac"
The modern form of actual New Year's resolutions can
probably be found with Benjamin Franklin's "Poor
Richard's Almanac" of 1738. In it, Franklin writes why
it is important to get rid of old habits and make better
ones around the New Year. Franklin wrote, "Each year one
vicious habit rooted out, in time might make the worst
man good throughout." Franklin's almanac published the
first set of true New Year's resolutions in history.
1821: Charles Lamb's essay
Published in the London Times of January 1821, Charles
Lamb wrote an essay vowing to look forward to the New
Year when he would enjoy the spring. Lamb's article was
about leaving behind the old year, symbolized by cold
winter and death, and remembering with fondness the
warmth of the summer frolics with his friends.
Jan. 2, 1948: Errol Flynn makes a famous resolution,
Ronald Reagan chimes in
Actor Errol Flynn makes a famous New Year's resolution
still popular today. The Pittsburgh Gazette reported
Flynn promised to "not make resolutions, as I once did."
In the same year, Ronald Reagan also uttered the famous
resolution "to believe nothing that I hear and only half
of what I see."
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