New Year’s Eve in America
New Year’s Celebrations are unique, in that they are typically broken up into two very different celebrations. As the year is coming to an end, people look at New Year’s Eve as a last hoorah, a last chance to celebrate and have a good time before they try to begin the New Year as a new person. New Year’s Day is a symbolic re-birth, a chance to right all the wrongs committed in the previous year and get back control of the metaphorical ship to right its course. Because of this dichotomy, the two days bring with them a completely different attitude and tone.
New Year’s Eve
There are several different ways to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but all of them revolve around celebrating the clock striking midnight and the beginning of the New Year.
Everyone might remember the thrill of staying up late with parents to watch movies and eat fried hors d’oeuvres like pigs in a blanket, mozzarella sticks and chicken tenders until around 11:30pm and then turn on the TV to watch Dick Clark’s coverage of the ball dropping in New York City. People would love to chat and watch the clock count down, yelling the final 10 numbers along with the entire city of New York on the television. When the ball finally dropped, Auld Lang Syne died down, and the New Year began, everyone would stall and stall to try to make the night last even more interesting and cherishing.
For children, New Year’s Eve is a time to stay up way past your bedtime and eat junk food. As a twenty-something year old adult, New Year’s Eve becomes a debauchery, one last send off for the year passed. Everyone parties all night, telling others it will all be different once the New Year begins. Of course, we’d be back at the party the next year, saying the same thing. At this age, the clock striking midnight does not mark the end of the party, and most take their celebration deep into the morning, despite the symbolic new beginning having already begun.
Regardless of the route you choose for celebrating New Year’s Eve, the place to be is in a major city like Chicago, Washington, DC, Las Vegas, and of course New York City. New York City is the epicenter of New Year’s Eve celebrations, with almost 1 million people filling the streets of iconic Times Square to see the ball drop. In addition, almost 1 billion people will view the ball dropping in New York City from around the world. There is no better place to go if you are looking for the biggest New Year’s Eve party in the world. If you’re looking for something quieter, though, stay home and watch Time Square on TV.
New Year’s Day
New Year’s Day is much calmer than New Year’s Eve, and most families like to celebrate this holiday by sleeping in, and staying home. Since most Americans have the day off, it is a time for lounging and watching football. On January 1st, the BCS, or Bowl Championship Series, holds its two semi-final matches (this year, called the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl) to determine which two college football teams will play for the championship. Homebodies will often tune in early for the Rose Bowl, to see the famed Tournament of Roses, and event including a parade in Pasadena, CA that was designed to celebrate the lush and fertile west in the face of the cold winter partiers had just faced the night before in the northeast. The Rose Parade boasts a lineup of flower-covered floats, marching bands, and equestrians to entertain its fans, and is an American New Year’s tradition.
Others carry on a new tradition, which many have deemed crazy. On this day every year, the Coney Island Polar Bear Club in New York’s famed Coney Island, invites anyone willing to participate to come down and participate in their annual event. Brave souls get together on the boardwalk to take a plunge into the freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Past participants laud the event, saying that it is invigorating to leap into these cold waters. Others, who are not as crazy, stay at home where it is warm.
At the heart of it, though, New Year’s Day is about resolutions. On this day, everyone vows to make a change in their lives. New Year’s Day stands as a boundary between the mistakes of last year and the changes of the new year, as Americans rest and recharge, preparing to start anew and make the next year better and more productive than the last; at least until February.