The
Truth
About
NEW
YEAR'S!
How did the
celebration
of New
Year's Eve
begin?
Why is the
beginning of
a year
placed in the
middle of a
dead winter?
And where
did the many
customs
surrounding
it originate?
by William H.
Ellis [The
Plain Truth -
December,
1964]
MOST people carelessly assume that
celebrating New Year's Eve is a Christian
custom.
But did the practice of "waiting the
old year out" really come from the Bible?
Is January 1 the true beginning of a
new year? Who has the AUTHORITY to
determine when a new year begins?
An Ancient Pagan Custom
New Year's is one of the oldest and
most universal of all pagan TRADITIONS !
The custom of celebrating it has
remained essentially unchanged for
4,000 years!
"There is scarcely a people, ancient or
modern, savage or civilized," writes
Theodor H. Gaster, in his definitive book
"New Year", "which has not observed it ...
in one form or another. Yet no others
festival has been celebrated on so many
different dates or in so many seemingly
different ways."
In ancient Babylon, New Year's
festivals were closely bound to the pagan
feast called " Christmas " today. [omitted
advertisement]
When and how did New Year's
celebrations originate? Who began the
custom?
Notice the proof of history.
"Mesopotamia," writes Earl W. Count,
"is the very ancient Mother of
Civilization. Christmas began there,
OVER FOUR THOUSAND YEARS AGO , as the
festival which renewed the world for
another year. The 'twelve days' of
Christmas; the bright fires and probably
the Yule log; the giving of presents; the
carnivals with their floats, their
merrymakings and clownings, the
mummers who sing and play from house
to house; the feastings; the church
processions with their lights and song --
all these and more began there centuries
before Christ was born. And they
celebrated THE ARRIVAL OF A NEW
YEAR!" ("4000 Years of Christmas", pp.
20-21.)
That is how it began. The celebration
of New Year's began in ancient
Babylonia in Mesopotamia. It was a
pagan custom of ancient sun-worship
2000 years before the birth of Jesus.
The celebration of New Year's is
never once commanded in the Bible.
Jesus and the apostles never observed it.
Moses forbade it!
Don't say "it doesn't matter." It does
matter to God whether we adopt the
customs of the heathen. Your Bible says,
"Learn not the way of the
heathen" (Jeremiah 10:2).
A Pagan Roman Feast
The New Year's festivities that had
originated in Babylon found their way
to Greece and finally to Rome. The
Romans called it "Saturnalia" -- in honor
of Saturn. Among them it was extremely
popular -- a time of revelings, drinking
bouts, orgies -- finally ending in HUMAN
SACRIFICE!
"The first day of the Saturnalia shifted
during the lifetime of Rome ... it began
around the middle of December ... and
continued until January first. In its midst
was December twenty-fifth, the day, as
the Romans calculated, when the sun
was at its lowest ebb ...." (E. W. Count's
"4000 Years of Christmas", page 28.)
It was Julius Caesar, Emperor of
pagan Rome, who instituted the New
Year's festival on January first. In 46 B.
C., Caesar adopted the Julian calendar.
He transferred to the first of January
ALL of the licentious customs
surrounding the Roman Saturnalia!
Accepted by "Church Fathers"
But how did such a thoroughly pagan
day ever insinuate itself into our modern
"Christian" calendar?
Read the answer from church history
-- about 375 A.D. This is the period
Emperor Constantine imposed
"Christianity" on the Roman world.
"There were many immigrants into
the ranks of the Christians by this time,"
writes Earl W. Count. "The Church
Fathers discovered to their alarm that
they were also facing an invasion of
pagan customs. The habit of Saturnalia
was too strong to be left behind. At first
the Church forbade it, but in vain" (page
31).
Rather than resist the influence of
pagan customs, the Catholic Church
fathers compromised!
"The Church finally succeeded in
taking the merriment, the greenery, the
lights, and the gifts from Saturn and
giving them to the Babe of Bethlehem ....
The pagan Romans became Christians --
but the Saturnalia remained!" (E.W.
Count, page 31.)
Modern Christians have gone A STEP
FURTHER !
Rather than present a gift to Jesus
Christ on the day they falsely assume to
be His birthday , the world is busily
trading presents among themselves!
Christ has been not only forgotten at
Christmas time, but is not so much as
toasted amidst the partying of New
Year's Eve!
During the Middle Ages many of the
ancient Roman customs were
maintained and augmented by the
incoming heathen rites of the Teutonic
peoples. It was during this period that
the customary yule log and mistletoe
were added to the popular New Year's
festivities. The yule log is a carry-over
from the bonfires of sun-worship, and
mistletoe is a parasite used in Druid rites
as a symbol of sex-worship!
As Teutonic customs were added, the
date of New Year's celebrations was
temporarily changed to March 25, to
coincide with the Germanic spring rites
of fertility.
Finally Pope Gregory re-instituted the
ancient pagan Roman date of January
first. He imposed it on the whole
Western world in 1582 when his
Gregorian calendar "reforms" were
accepted. All Roman Catholic countries
accepted this change AT ONCE! Sweden,
Germany, Denmark and England, the
strongholds of Druid customs, finally
acquiesced to Rome in the 1700's!
The Modern
Attitude of Compromise
Today, New Year's Eve has become a
time for people to wallow in excesses of
liquor! The modern attitude seems to be,
"have a wild time on New Year's Eve,
and turn over a new leaf on New Year's
Day!"
New Year's resolutions are empty and
meaningless, usually trifling matters of
jest! Few people make a lasting change.
Most people seem to have convinced
themselves that God is out of the picture
for good. That God is not concerned with
their modern revelings, drunken parties,
promiscuous behavior!
What does God have to say about New
Year's? Does He condone observing a
pagan festival? practicing pagan customs
in the name of Christ?
God Labels New Year's
"PAGAN"!
God Almighty does not compromise!
Notice the Eternal's stern warning to
Israel as they conquered the pagan
nations of the promised land:
"Take heed to thyself that thou be not
snared by following them, after that they
be destroyed from before thee; and that
thou INQUIRE NOT AFTER THEIR GODS,
saying 'How did these nations serve
their gods? even so will I do likewise.'
THOU SHALT NOT DO SO UNTO THE
ETERNAL THY GOD : for EVERY
ABOMINATION to the Eternal, WHICH HE
HATETH , have they done to their gods
...." (Deut. 12:30-31.)
What were the customs God hates and
condemns in Deuteronomy? What are
those pagan rites that are an
ABOMINATION to Him?
Greek God of WINE!
Theodor H. Gaster writes concerning
the familiar "New Year's babe":
"Actually the New Year babe is FAR
OLDER than he looks. In ancient Greece,
it was customary at the great festival of
Dionysus to parade a babe cradled in a
winnowing basket. This was taken to
symbolize the annual (or periodic)
rebirth of that god as the spirit of
fertility!" (New Year.)
Who was this Dionysus?
None other than Bacchus -- the god of
wine! In his honor the Greeks held a
festival called the "Festival of the Wine-
Press" at the time which corresponds to
our months of January-February!
Today more alcoholic beverages are
consumed during the "holiday season"
than at any other time of the year! New
Year's Eve is noted for its licentious,
wild, and wanton partying. People are
deceived by riotous pagan holiday spirits
-- for the most part emanating from
liquor bottles -- all the while calling it
"Christian"!
"Father
Time"
Another symbol of New Year's
celebrations is equally pagan! It is the
familiar figure of a white-haired man
carrying a scythe. What does he
represent? The ancient Greek god
Cronos. It is from the name "Cronos" we
derive our "chronograph" which
measures time.
Among the Greek gods, Cronos originally
cut a swath of HUMAN SACRIFICE with his
sharpened scythe! The "silent reaper"
anciently "reaped" little children in
horrible episodes of mythical
CANNIBALISM! This Greek rite of human
sacrifice was adopted by ancient Rome,
where human sacrifice was practiced at
least until 300 A. D.
No wonder God Almighty warns the
pagan New Year's celebration is AN
ABOMINATION to Him! See Deuteronomy
12:31.
Strange as it seems, the professing
Christian world praises and practices
customs and days of pagan origin --
thinly cloaking them in "Christian"
sounding names! You too, may have
accepted these vain traditions of men,
never realizing they are PAGAN TO THE
CORE!
"In VAIN do they worship me," said
Jesus Christ, "teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men!"
Jesus said it is possible to WORSHIP
GOD -- to venerate the NAME of Christ --
and still do it ALL IN VAIN!
"Full well YE REJECT THE
COMMANDMENT OF GOD , that ye may
keep your own tradition," He continued,
"... making the Word of God of none
effect through your tradition, which ye
have delivered!" (Mark 7:7, 9, 13.)
Many people will confess, when
forced to, the pagan origin of these days.
But they stubbornly REFUSE to stop
observing them! God is their Judge!
Don't you make this mistake!
When Does God Begin the New
Year?
Remember! It is God Almighty who
created the Universe. He set the heavenly
bodies in their courses at Creation. It is
by His "master-clock" that time is
determined.
The earth's rotation regulates the
length of a day -- the lunar phases
indicate the length of a month. And the
orbit of the earth around the sun dictates
the length of a year!
But ONLY GOD has the AUTHORITY to
set the date of the beginning of the new
year!
God's sacred calendar year begins in
the spring -- not in the middle of a dead
winter! Notice Exodus 12:1-2, "And the
Eternal spake unto Moses and Aaron in
the land of Egypt, saying, This month
shall be unto you the beginning of
months: it shall be the FIRST MONTH OF
THE YEAR TO YOU. "
The first month of God's sacred
calendar is called, in the Bible, "Abib". It
means the month of "green ears." Later,
the Jews called it "Nisan" -- a Babylonian
word having the same meaning.
It was in the month of Abib or Nisan
that Israel came out of Egyptian captivity
under Moses (Ex. 34:18). The Hebrew
month Abib overlaps the months of
March-April on the pagan Roman
calendar in use today.
God placed the beginning of the
sacred year in the early spring to mark
the beginning of the seasonal harvests.
The two annual harvests in Palestine
foreshadowed God's Plan for the twofold
SPIRITUAL harvest of souls to be born
into His Kingdom.
Your Bible speaks of a great false
religious system which will "think to
change times and laws" (Dan. 7:25). This
system has deliberately thought to
change the beginning of God's calendar
year in an attempt to hide God's Plan for
the salvation of mankind! But man has
no authority to change God's "master-
clock."
Satan, however, has cleverly deceived
the world into believing the new year
begins on January first!
Why National Captivity?
The very same pagan practices God
condemns in the Old Testament are
being perpetuated in our modern world
today!
The very same festivals of paganism
adopted by ancient Israel have become
an integral part of this modern society!
Read, in II Kings 17:15-18, the reason
why God Almighty took ancient Israel
into captivity: "And they rejected his
statutes, and his covenant that he made
with their fathers, and his testimonies
which he testified against them; and
they followed vanity, and became vain,
and went after the heathen that were
round about them, concerning whom the
Lord had charged them, that they should
not do like them!"
What was the result of Israel
following the customs of the heathen
nations around them?
"Therefore the LORD was very angry
with Israel, and removed them out of his
sight .... and afflicted them, and
delivered them into the hand of spoilers,
until he had cast them out of his sight ....
SO WAS ISRAEL CARRIED AWAY OUT OF
THEIR OWN LAND TO ASSYRIA UNTO THIS
DAY! " (II Kings 17:18, 20, and 23.)
Israel NEVER returned as a nation to
the land of Palestine!
Israel was lost! Its true identity was
concealed until modern times! Now there
is proof that the lost ten tribes of ancient
Israel migrated to Northwestern Europe.
The chief peoples among them have
become the United States and British
Commonwealth today! (advertisement
omitted)
Modern Paganism Will Be
Punished!
Do you suppose God has changed His
mind about compromising with
paganism?
"For I am the LORD, I CHANGE NOT!"
warns the Eternal in Malachi 3:6. This
same reminder is repeated in Hebrews
13:8.
Speaking to the modern nations of
Israel today, Almighty God says, "As for
you, O house of Israel, thus saith the
Eternal God; Go ye, serve ye every one
his idols and thereafter also, if ye will
not hearken unto me: but POLLUTE YE
MY HOLY NAME NO MORE with your gifts
and with your idols" (Ezek. 20:39).
In other words, God is saying, "Be
pagan if you insist; but quit calling it
Christian."
God continues to warn modern Israel
against the holidays of paganism, in
Hosea 2:11:
"I will also cause all her mirth to
cease, HER feast days [days THE PEOPLE
chose], HER new moons [marking the
beginning of the pagan New Year], and
her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts."
Notice that these were Israel's feast days
-- those Israel had acquired from the
pagan nations around them -- NOT those
God had originally instituted through His
Bible! "And I will visit upon her the DAYS
OF BAALIM, wherein she burned incense
to them ..." (verse 13)!
The very same punishment awaits any
nation today that forsakes God's law as
revealed in His Holy Bible, and turns to
the customs of pagan nations --
observing pagan days of worship!
Does it make any difference if YOU
continue observing pagan customs -- like
New Year's? IT CERTAINLY DOES! God
says so!
What You Should Do
God Almighty prophesies a final
revival of Babylonian religion in great
power just before He cuts short man's
misrule of this earth. Read His warning
in Revelation 18:
"And after these things I saw another
angel come down from heaven, having
great power, and the earth was lightened
with his glory. And he said mightily with
a strong voice, saying, Babylon the Great
is fallen, is fallen.
"Her fornication, and the kings of the
earth have committed fornication with
her, and the merchants of the earth are
waxed rich through the abundance of
her delicacies. And I heard another voice
from heaven, saying, come out of her,
my people, that ye be not partakers of
her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues!"
New Year's celebration began in
Babylon 4,000 years ago. It is practiced
today by almost every people on the face
of the earth. Satan the Devil has indeed
deceived the whole world! (Rev. 12:9.)
But God Almighty has sent His
ministers to warn this world -- to cry
aloud, and spare not, and SHOW HIS
PEOPLE THEIR SINS (Isa. 58:1).
Punishment will not be forever withheld!
May God help you to HEED THIS
WARNING , and FORSAKE THE PAGAN
PRACTICES of this modern world!
by William H. Ellis [The Plain Truth -
December, 1964 - Ambassador Press]
This publication is not to be sold. It is a free
educational service intended for personal study
and learning. Please know that it is not wise to
take any man’s word for anything, so prove all
things for yourself from the pages of your own
Bible (I Thes. 5:21).
God Bless His Saints who keep the
commandments of God and the
faith of Jesus Christ!
