Musings on the new year (celebration)

As the secular old year draws to an end, many people around me are preparing for it. Interestingly enough, I recognize many themes of the Deipnon within their preparations. Purification of the house and person, tying up loose ends of the old year, setting goals for a set period ahead... I wonder if these commonalities are the reason the ancient Hellenes didn't celebrate the start of the new year in an exorbitant fashion; the new year usually started on Noumenia, and anything from the old year had already been settled the day (and month, and the month before that, and...) before. The new year was most likely just a new month: the continuation of the cycle, but not especially epic.

Be careful out there tonight and enjoy the celebration. We're having some friends over and eating together, followed with a party I'll most likely cut out of early. I've never really observed new year's as something special (mostly because I celebrated it around Samhain since I was thirteen), but in my Hellenistic tradition, new year's is still half a year away (the Athenians and the other Ionian peoples began their year with the first new moon after the summer solstice, the Dorians with the first new moon after the autumnal equinox, the Boeotians and other Aeolians with the new moon after the winter solstice). Still, it's a fun evening and night to spend with family, friends and other loved ones. I hope you enjoy it as much as I will.

Until tomorrow, in the secular new year.

PS: Thank you, everyone who came here through search engine searches. I can see what you guys have typed into the search bar, and almost all of you come here searching for something Hellenic or Hellenistic, and always with good questions. Some examples from last year:

• genealogical greek gods tree
• greeks think of suicide in greek mythology
• stryax officianalis hellenism
• was athena wrong in how she treated medusa?
• argo navis
• orphic daily practice
• greek neo-paganism

The list goes on. Thank you for that. No weird searches, lots of searches that give me blog ideas and often questions I can answer. You guys rock.

Have a wonderful second half of the Hellenic year, everyone!