Who is Baby New Year?
You’ve seen him before. He is the little baby boy who wears nothing but nappies and a sash with a year written on it. He is called Baby New Year and in a couple of days he will be wearing a sash with “2009″ written on it. Where he comes from, how he came about, or who gave him such a name is not very clear. No one also knows why Baby New Year is always a “he” and never a “she”. Even a search in the Internet does not give us all the answers.
Sometimes people mistake him for a baby angel (a cherub) or a cupid. Baby New Year, however, represents the start of each year, and may be seen on banners during New Year’s celebrations, be it the standard New Year on January 1 or the Chinese New Year a few weeks later. Or in any calendar for that matter. Eventually, as the year loses its “newness”, Baby New Year disappears to be replaced by the symbol of the elderly Father time. The ritual repeats itself at the turn of the year.
One site tells us that the Greeks and the Egyptians used a baby to symbolize rebirth or fertility associated with the New Year. Initially condemned as a paganistic symbol, the Christian religion eventually integrated the Baby New Year symbol into the Christmas tradition featuring child Jesus of the. The Baby New Year symbol was supposedly used by the Germans in the 14th century and eventually taken to America by immigrants, where the symbol gained popularity.
It is probably the association between New Year and the baby symbol that makes a New Year delivery and the baby that comes with it extra special. You’ll be sure to see headlines on Thursday, January 1, 2009 saying “first baby to be born this year is …”
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