Well I think that it is – or else my TV is airing cartoons with a baby in a diaper and top hat riding a reindeer out of season... Lem'me check my calender. Yep, it's closing in on the New Year!
So where does that baby as a symbol of the New Year come from? Turns out the Greeks used it as far back as some time before 600 BC... it was the celebration of the rebirth of the god Dionysus who had evidently partied to hard just before the new year and had regressed to infantile behavior as an after effect... No? Well it sounded good here. Actually it was to celebrate his rebirth as the spirit of fertility. For the Egyptians – they used a baby as a symbol of fertility and the new year as well, so I guess Rankin and Bass were just trying to cash in on an existing myth...
Here in America we have a few traditions that give an opportunity to engage your students while teaching them. The Tournament of Roses Parade that was a mainstay in my childhood for New Years Day and is the same for my children dates back to 1886. In that year, members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with flowers. It celebrated the ripening of the orange crop in California. Playing football afterward was introduced in 1902 and replaced with chariot races until 1916, where we've had the football game played since. Learning about the parade and it's history gave a window in my childhood to learn so much more about the region and encompassed every subject that school could offer. Math, Art, Science, History, Social Studies, Language … it all could be done wrapped around that parade.
Snopes.com has a number of interesting New Years traditions and myths, and will be a read for us as we prepare for our New Year.
What about you?
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