HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Special Lesson)

PART 1

What day and month does the new year begin?

Do you know?

Let’s find out now!

Happy, happy new year, happy new year.
A time for hope and a time for cheer.
Happy, happy new year, happy new year.
A song of joy for all to hear.


PART 2

DO YOU KNOW?

1. How many different New Year’s celebrations are there in the world?
2. How many languages are in the world?

3. How many languages did you see in the video?  What were they?

ANSWERS BELOW

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1. There are at least 14 different celebrations:
     • Gregorian calendar, January 1st
     • Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year) / February
     • Seollal (Korean New Year) / February
     • Nyepi (Balinese New Year) / March
     • Nowrus (Iranian New Year) / March 21
     • Ugaadhi (southern Indian states) / April
     • Aluth Avurudda (Sri Lanka) / April
     • Puthandu (Tamil, Malaysia, Singapore New Year) / April
     • Songkran (Thai New Year) / April
     • Enkutatash (Ethiopian New Year) / September 11 
     • Diwali (Hindu, Sikhs, Jains New Year) / October
     •  Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) / October
     •  Islamic New Year / first month of Muslim calendar
     • Murador (Austrailian Aboriginal peoples) / October     

2. There are about 6,500 languages in the world today. 

3. Languages in the video: Czech, Chinese, English, Danish, French, German, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Ugandi  . . .
 

HELP! We could not find them all.  What did we miss? 

PART 3 

The History [इतिहास] of New Year’s Celebrations [उत्सव]

People have been celebrating the start of each new year for more than 4,000 years. Today, most New Year's Day celebrations begin on December 31 and end on January 1.

     The first celebrations were in Babylon, an ancient [प्राचीन] kingdom [राज्य] in the Middle East. Today it is called Iraq. Their celebration was in late spring. The celebration lasted eleven days.

     Slowly [हळूहळू], people made new calendars [कॅलेंडर]. They made the first day of the year the day of an important [महत्वाचे] event. For example, in Egypt the year began with the flooding [पाणी उभे ठेवण्याच्या] of the Nile River.

     The first Roman [रोमन] calendar had 10 months and 304 days. Later [नंतर], a Roman ruler [अधिकारी] added [कशाततरी भर घालणे] two more months to the calendar. But after many years, the calendar was not the same as the seasons [हंगामात] made by the sun. Roman ruler Julius Caesar wanted to solve [निराकरण] this problem [समस्या].  The most important scientists [शास्त्रज्ञ] of his time made a new calendar. It is very similar [समान] to the calendar most countries use today.

     Caesar made January 1 the first day of the year. Romans celebrated it by honoring [सन्मान] Janus, the god of beginnings [सुरवात]. They gave gifts [भेट] and decorated [सजवण्यासाठी] their homes. They also had big parties [मेजवानी].

    There are many ways [मार्ग] people celebrate the new year today. In Spain, people eat 12 grapes [द्राक्ष] before midnight [मध्यरात्री]. The grapes stand for [प्रतीकांचा वापर करणे] their hopes for the coming months. Other customs include watching fireworks [फटाके] and singing songs. In some places people make resolutions [करारीपणा] for the new year. These are promises [वचन] about what they will do. Making resolutions began long ago with the people in Babylon. They made promises to make the gods happy.