New Year’s Day wasn’t always celebrated in January. Throughout time, different civilizations typically welcomed the new year during a significant astronomical or agricultural event — like the Romans who celebrated in March, following their lunar cycle — until 46 B.C., when the emperor Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar. Honoring the month’s namesake Janus — the Roman god of beginnings whose two faces allowed him to look simultaneously into the past and the future — Caesar instituted January 1 as the first day of the year. On this newly dated holiday, the Romans celebrated not only by offering sacrifices to Janus, but also by exchanging gifts, attending parties and decorating their homes with laurel branches.
Today, the New Year is celebrated in different ways all around the world, but typical New Year’s traditions include everything from toasting with champagne and eating foods thought to bestow good luck to making resolutions for the coming year — a practice that’s thought to have originated from the ancient Babylonians. As for that age-old custom of kissing your loved one at the stroke of midnight, this tradition is thought to have beenpassed down from English and German folklore, which held that the first person you encountered in the New Year would determine the year’s destiny. Eventually, the tradition evolved over time to choosing who you wanted the year’s good luck to be shared with.
Many other countries have traditions that might be lesser well-known — Columbia – people wear brand-new yellow underwear to ring in the New Year, and also run around the house (or block) with a suitcase to ensure that the upcoming year is filled with travel.
Denmark -the Danes jump off chairs at the stroke of midnight to literally “leap” into a luck-filled new year. And in Spain – the Spaniards practice the custom of eating 12 grapes at or before midnight.
Yet the most iconic for Americans and now, most of Europe, is the ball-drop at New York City’s Time Square. According to the official Times Square Ball website, the ball drop has been a tradition since 1907, with the first New Year’s Eve Ball having been a 700-pound sphere made out of iron, wood and 100 light bulbs. The custom was inspired by an old maritime tradition, in which “time balls” were dropped at noon so sailors could adjust their clocks to the local time. Since the first ball drop in 1907, a total of seven different versions of the New Year’s Eve Ball have been designed. Eventually, the ball evolved into the newest (and coolest) version that it is today: a brightly patterned orb covered with LED lamps and Waterford Crystal panels that weighs in at nearly 12,000 pounds!
We will be open until midnight to watch this ball drop at Times Square and make a toast to the end of 2021 and the ringing in of 2022!
Drink specials: The eggnog was so successful that we are continuing its distribution. Select your preference of alcohols to mix with your eggnog. We also have added the additional option of the French 75 – a combination of Courvoisier, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and topped with Champagne.