Exchanging Greetings on New Year
On the New Year's Day people wear bright new clothes and spring
clean their houses. At several places people follow the tradition
of 'first footing' and do not leave the house before someone comes
in first. First footing person should ideally get some gifts and is
accorded a warm welcome by the people. Later, people move out to exchange
greetings and New Year gifts with their friends and dear ones. Popular New
Year gifts include cake, flowers, chocolates, decorative and New Year Greeting
cards. The idea behind exchanging gifts and greetings is to give warm wishes for
a New Year and strengthen the bond of love shared with dear ones.
The Church's View of New Year Celebrations
Although in the first centuries AD the Romans continued celebrating the new year,
the early Catholic Church condemned the festivities as paganism. But as Christianity
became more widespread, the early church began having its own religious observances
concurrently with many of the pagan celebrations, and New Year's Day was no different.
New Years is still observed as the Feast of Christ's Circumcision by some denominations.
During the Middle Ages, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years. January 1 has
been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.
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