As I sat down to pen my New Year’s resolutions today, I resolved to get to the bottom of a little mystery: Where (and when) did we begin torturing ourselves with New Year's resolutions?
Like so many painful things in life – Pilates exercises, nuns who rap your knuckles with rulers, and gladiators who fight to the death – they originated in Italy. As they say, all roads lead to Rome.
The tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates back to 153 B.C., when Romans began utilizing the occasion of the New Year to look for forgiveness from their enemies.
In fact, it was none other than Julius Caesar who designed a calendar that would more aptly reflect the seasons than previous calendars. He named the first month of his new year after a mythical Roman God named Janus – a mythical “God of beginnings” who had powers to reflect back over the past and also to look into the future. Illustrations of this mythical creature include two faces – one on the back of the head looking backward and one on the front representing the face which always looks forward. Thus began January and the annual tradition of reflecting back over the past year while setting sights on the year ahead.
On New Year’s Day, Romans also began the tradition of giving each other branches from sacred trees for good luck and good fortune. I like to think of this tradition as extending an olive branch to one another, so to speak.
Where fitness and good health is concerned, I think we all ought to extend a proverbial olive branch to ourselves --- in forgiveness for the things we could have done better to honor our bodies last year, and in positive anticipation of the great things that will come in the New Year.
Here’s to good health in 2012!
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