Happy Lunar New Year! Today is the start of the Year of the Fire Horse. Apparently, this year will be one of forward action and fiery emotions. My daughter and I are both Horses although she is a Water Horse and I am an Earth Horse. In the Chinese zodiac, the five elements of fire, water, earth, metal, and wood also influence personalities and preferences. “Horses are lively, charming, and adventurous. In the zodiac, they thrive in lively settings and are often seen as natural leaders and motivators.” (https://chinesenewyear.net/lunar-new-year-guide/). As an Earth Horse, “The Earth Horse is extremely thoughtful and helpful and will always try their best to help their friends, family, and workmates in whatever way they can. They are more careful than some of the other types of Horse, but are still wise and will be careful with big choices.” ( https://www.fengshuiweb.co.uk/characteristics-of-the-earth-horse/). Apparently though, a Horse year is not necessarily a lucky year for those of us who are Horses even though it can be a transformative one. Oh well, I think it will still shape up to be an interesting year overall. The last time there was a Fire Horse year was 1966 and there were a lot of big things that happened that year and a lot of social movements gained momentum. Bring it on I say!

That all being said, this post is not really about the Lunar New Year specifically but more so about New Year marker points in general and how we can use these points as seasonal markers for ourselves. I will be speaking from my own experience as a descendant of North Western European folks and living in a Northern Hemisphere landscape within a four season cultural framework. If you do not fit this particular description, I do hope my ideas may spark something within you (like the Fire Horse will) to explore your own cultural and location marker points to try and find your own New Year.

When does a New Year begin anyway? Well, it can depend on what kind of calendar that you follow. Despite the general worldwide acceptance that January 1st is New Year’s Day (because that is the day our Gregorian calendars start) there are so many other days that can claim that title. I will say though that it is really cool to celebrate at least one day with the entire world. As already mentioned, many Asian cultures see the start of the New Year as the first New Moon at a certain point in the year because they follow a lunisolar calendar. Lunisolar calendars will combine both a lunar and solar style of calendar that then roughly corresponds to the seasons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunisolar_calendar). Other cultures follow a predominately lunar calendar like those of the Islamic faiths. and designate one of the moon cycles as the first of the year. Some follow a more solar calendar and use Solstices and Equinoxes to determine when the New Year begins. This often occurs at one of the Solstices when the Sun is either the strongest or the weakest. Agricultural calendars can determine a New Year such as the agricultural calendar that my ancestors in the British Isles would have used. Often the New Year in these cultures would be once the Harvest is over and before Winter sets in or it could be in the Spring when Winter is over and new life returns to the land. Then there are the calendars that determine activities like the start of the new school year, the start of hockey season (Go Oilers) or the start of camping season (which is the May long weekend in Canada [Victoria Day], in case you were wondering).

So how do you decide what New Year to choose?

My first suggestion is to not just choose one. There can by many reasons why a person would like to have many “New Years” throughout the year. The start of a new cycle can be a powerful time to initiate new projects and get new ideas off the ground. I remember when I was growing up that the start of the school year always felt like a fresh new page out of my notebook, full of promise and curiosity. Even to this day, I still feel that same sort of freshness when September rolls around even though I have not been in school since the 90’s (yes, the 1990’s) and my daughter is all grown up and moved out. At work, September is the start of our fiscal year and raises happen and yearly benefits begin again. I feel an equal sense of renewal when Spring arrives and the snow has finally melted and I can hear the Canadian Geese call out on their return from their Winter resting places down south. Take some time to think over your current year and see where you feel this natural excitement over a time to come or a sense that this time is a new beginning for you. This may be an excellent time to create some New Year ceremonies or practices that help you lean into that feeling.

Another suggestion is to take a look into the cultures that run through your own veins. What were their New Year celebrations? As I had mentioned before, the majority of my ancestors hailed from North Western European lands and pretty much all of my people were farmers of some kind. Looking into the Celtic, Pretani, and Germanic agricultural year, many of their celebrations were tied to when the land or animals were doing “something”. For example, Beltane could not happen until the Hawthorn tree was in bloom. Well, not all Hawthorn trees would bloom on the same day depending on where you lived and so the start of Beltane could be any time between the middle of April and the beginning of June combined with a new moon. Likewise to when Winter would begin. For many folks it was when the last of the Harvest was brought in or when that first skiff of snow could be seen on the fields (again, often combined with the closest new moon). Often, that is when the Druids would come along and offer their expert advice on when to start the season. They would use a lunisolar calendar and what was happening in the local landscape to help them pinpoint when a season should be over or start. Check out the Coligny Calendar for some dates that you can use for your celebrations if you are interested.

I am going to digress for a moment here. Something that has been really intriguing for me lately is reconsidering what the start of a year or even a day should be. Many people, not just my Celtic ancestors, started their days when the sun went down and not from some arbitrary number on a clock. Oidche Samhuinn (Samhain night) was also seen as the end of the old year for my Scottish and Irish ancestors, often occuring in the middle of November upon the new moon (check out this article here for more details). Seems interesting that the start of the new year or a new day would actually be a time of rest. I will come back to these musings with another post but it is something to think about. What if we started our year with rest instead of bursting forth with activity? Perhaps this is why we all struggle with making New Year’s resolutions in January. January is high Winter for many of us in the Northern Hemisphere and we should be resting and dreaming not planning and scheming.

Anywho, at this point you are likely asking yourself if I am going to tell you when the New Year really should be. I have mentioned modern calendars, lunisolar calendars, agricultural calendars, and activity calendars. I am sure there are many more types of calendars out there that you can find too that will have a start and end date of some kind. All of these are useful and valid and are no better than each other. The bottom line is that the New Year is whenever you feel it is. When do you feel that there is a natural end to a cycle and the beginning of a new one? Do you feel within yourself that there is maybe more than one? Perhaps you have a cycle for work, one for your activities, and one for your spiritual practice? For myself, I feel a cycle end and begin with every season, every moon cycle, and every day. I have new years for my hobbies and my garden. I have a new cycle for my volunteering and my desk job. All of these deserve their own mini celebrations and reflections. My birthday is a natural year end/beginning as well.

Share with me some of your “New Years” in the comments below.

I hope this has given you come food for thought and my wishes for you over the next year are to have a year filled with love, hope, joy, peace and to be with the ones you love doing the things that fill your heart.

Take Care of Each Other and Yourself!
Melissa