TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Say A Prayer For Baby New Year

ADVERTISEMENT

By RON RAE Guest columnist

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 31, 2008

As the granules of sand in the hourglass trickles away the final hours, minutes and seconds of 2008, the white robe worn by Father Time is soiled and tattered from one of the most tested years in history.

His typically lengthy, graying hair lays at his feet as from loss due to cancer-ridden devastation, a stark indicator that the challenges of the past 12 months have taken a huge toll on his appearance and stature; the balding is symbolic of fallen financial markets the world over.

His looks are a far cry from the hopeful infancy of nearly 12 months to what now seems the too distant past. The fireworks on the eve of 2008 were made in China, his robe woven in India, the sandals imported from Mexico and the sickle, as used by the Grim Reaper to harvest human lives and souls, a symbolic example of an agriculture industry meant for humanity's nourishment that is, instead, diverted to mankind's energy consumption. Father Time has a global presence.

The typically cute and chubby Baby New Year is doing poorly; the failed attempts to induce labor for a head start on a new era of hope has put his goodwill efforts at a disadvantage, necessitating life support in the form of an injection of bailout serum, perhaps nothing more than a temporary shot of adrenalin but with President-elect Barack Obama, the chosen healer in the U.S, prepared to administer one booster after another.

Instead of wearing a silk sash announcing the New Year, the poor little tyke will be seen holding a cardboard protest sign with 2009 written in graffiti, and the diaper held in place with paperclips instead of a safety pin, signifying a year of uncertainty.

On the shirt tail of Old Man 2008, Baby 2009 is being dragged into a year with dismal prospects of prosperity, weakened to the point whereby he will spend months crawling before baby steps can lead to an upright position of self-assurance, if that's at all possible. His eyes are crossed, looking inward for answers to questions and challenges that could possibly lead to a year of positive accomplishments.

With much luck, Baby will successfully shoulder the weight of the world and end the 12-month reign of trials and errors as a champion of adversities and deliver his own successor a new period of hope and charity. Regardless, his time span of 365 days will seem an eternity.

The symbolism that a baby announces a period of rebirth began with the Egyptians, but the tradition of using an infant to hail in a New Year began in Greece in 600 BC. It wasn't until 46 AD that Julius Caesar established Jan. 1 as the beginning of a new year on the Julian calendar. During the 14th century, Germany honored the symbolism of Baby New Year and introduced the tradition to America some 400 years later.

The clinking of glasses goes back to medieval times when a host would offer the guest a drink. When a guest was offered a toast in celebration, he would either pour a small amount of his drink into the glass of the host or, if the guest felt assured it wasn't a poisonous concoction, which was a popular means to kill an enemy, they would raise their glasses with a solid clink and cheer in the New Year.

Although the ringing of bells isn't generally practiced in the U.S., the other tradition of displaying fireworks to ward off evil spirits is widely accepted from its origin in China.

Being with friends and loved ones at the dawning of the New Year, and a kiss between two special people, signifies that affections, hopes and good will will continue throughout the coming year. A New Year's Day dinner of pork and sauerkraut portends a rebirth toward a period of moving forward with good luck, a Scottish tradition.

As the New Year is upon us, you might say a prayer for Baby 2009, ring those bells, clink your glasses, shoot off fireworks, kiss and make up and feast on a pork dinner.

And have a Happy New Year!

Ron Rae, a frequent letter writer to Hernando Today, lives in Spring Hill.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT