From: keeping-new-years-resolutions.com>>>

One of the appealing aspects of our traditional winter holidays is that they follow one another so closely. As soon as the whirlwind of Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza or the winter solstice passes, it's time to make plans for ushering in the New Year.

The New Year is also a time for going with the cultural flow and coming up with one or more steadfast resolutions for self-improvement, fiscal prudence or better health. That's why people make New Year's resolutions. Where, you might wonder, did that tradition begin?

New Year's Traditions:
The history of New Year's resolutions spans more than two millennia. Historians report that the mythical Roman king Janus, from which we get the name of our first calendar month, was a two faced symbol—not because he was a hypocrite, but because he had the ability to look back on the past and look forward to the future. He also became known as the guardian of entrances and doors.

Romans began the celebration of the new year by seeking forgiveness from their enemies and giving one another gifts. This is where a vague line between Christmas and New Year's traditions becomes blurred. Christians changed New Year's Day to December 25th in the middle ages, so gift giving became a Christian tradition.

The start of the new year moved around a bit as various people changed the calendar to mark various events: the winter solstice, phases of the moon, the beginning of spring or a time of planting and sowing. In any case, it's a time of new beginnings for people around the world.

Gift giving is only one of the traditions that mark the beginning of the new year. Traditions range from eating black-eyed peas in the American south to eating lasagna in Sicily. The Spanish eat twelve grapes at midnight, while the Chinese give the front door a fresh coat of red paint.

New Year's Resolutions:
Making a resolution on New Year's Day is a time-honored tradition. Earlier celebrants went through elaborate rituals to chase away the ghosts of the past. While the Chinese used cymbals and fireworks, others used rites such as exorcisms and purifications. Ceremonies, involving bonfires, processions and parades often had masks that symbolized the dead.

The logic behind these traditions is that the demons of the past were eventually exorcized by denouncing past sins, bad habits and frailties. A clean slate would provide a release from the bonds of ill health or oppression.

While making New Year's resolutions is consistent with the history of closing the door on the past year and looking ahead to peace and prosperity, why do so many people make New Year's resolutions that are promptly broken, abandoned or forgotten?

The Modern History of New Year's Resolutions:
Like so many aspects of our culture, the making and keeping of resolutions has undergone study and analysis. Some sociologists enjoy tracking the evolution of modern resolutions and report that we tend to focus on making resolutions that involve improving our health: work out, quit smoking, lose weight . . . the list goes on.

Were these the same resolutions that our grandparents made? Hard to imagine Granny resolving to go work out at her gym three times a week . . . perhaps her resolution had more to do with sticking to a budget or eating less candy.

The modern history of New Year's resolutions is heavily scrutinized and psychologists offer many theories for the phenomenon of the broken resolution. They've found only one that people tend to stick to: stop making resolutions you know you won't keep!