In one year and out the other
Not all New Year resolutions are doomed to failure; in fact, resolvers are a special lot
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WHILE "new year, new me" declarations may seem kind of hokey, the making of new year's resolutions is actually a time-honoured, sacred practice. The ancient Babylonians - the first people to record celebrations in honour of the new year - are believed to have started the tradition over 4,000 years ago.
That's right: the people who brought you early trigonometry also invented new year's resolutions.
In Mesopotamia, a new year would turn over not in January, but in March, as this was the month crops would be sown and the earth "reborn". As part of a 12-day religious festival known as Akitu, Babylonians would pledge to get out of debt, promising their pagan gods that they'd return any borrowed items.
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