It's four hours before New Year's, and I am planning on brushing teeth, watching a movie and maybe reading some more of Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince. I was thinking about finding somewhere to go at 6am to watch Chris Rock live from New York, but I reckon that won't happen..
According to the site simpletoremember.com, it was Julius Caesar who put the New Year's celebration on January 1. And not only that:
Caesar celebrated the first January 1 New Year by ordering the violent routing of revolutionary Jewish forces in the Galilee. Eyewitnesses say blood flowed in the streets.
You know, in Israel, they call the secular New Year "Sylvester." Turns out it's in honor of St. Sylvester, a 4th Century pope who had some involvment in the conversion of Constantine. For some reason, December 31 is St. Sylvester Day. Some more fun facts about Sylvester-
The year before the Council of Nicaea convened, Sylvester convinced Constantine to prohibit Jews from living in Jerusalem. At the Council of Nicaea, Sylvester arranged for the passage of a host of viciously anti-Semitic legislation.
Oh, the Israelis. Supposedly there was a push to call New Year's "Adolph," but there were protests that Hitler wasn't Christian enough...
By the way, I haven't checked my sources on that simpletoremember site. Possible Jewish Conspiracy warning.
1 comment:
Hey Stu... I knew about the St.Sylvester name, but had conveniently forgotten all about it. The only thing I knew was that in Rio they run the St. Sylvester Marathon at night on New Year's eve, and there was a time when Colombian participants actually dominated the reace. That was, of course, befroe the surge in Kenyan distance runners.
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