The Origin of New Year Resolutions

The tradition of the New Year's Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar. With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn't begin on that date everywhere today. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had.

The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back. Thus he could look backward and forward at the same time. At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back at the old year and forward to the new. The Romans began a tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year's Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune. Later, nuts or coins imprinted with the god Janus became more common New Year's gifts.

In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to December 25, the birth of Jesus. Then they changed it to March 25, a holiday called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1.

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So as you make your New Year Resolutions, think of Janus. Ah, I should go google how he looks like. Maybe he's as hot as his name suggests. LOL.

As for the MOFs (I don't care, I'm speaking for the 2 of you too since MOF1 is still busy making banners and MOF3 is still MIA), our resolutions are:

1. To get more FOLLOWERS.
Refer to the bar on the left to see how to be a follower! :D Our target is 1239819028390 followers by the end of this year, but after some serious consideration, we realised that it may take some times to gain that many followers so we've decided to revise that number to just 3. Meaning, we need one more follower.

2. To get MOF1 to blog.
That is a rather difficult task, unless she stops making banners and teaching people how to cheerlead. And to achieve this, we would require the help of Mr Tng. CONTROL THAT WOMAN, MR TNG!

3. To get MOF3 to blog.
This is much simpler, cuz MOF3 is simply too lazy. I knew it, don't deny. And don't give me smiley faces! BLOG! (:

That's all. Post your resolutions, MOFs, if you want to add to the short but meaningful list. If we ever fufill these resolutions, uh, Joab will give you a jaguar. And it'll be one jaguar for each resolution, MOFs. So hurry!

MOF2 signs off, counting the number of jaguars she is going to receive in 2009. Oh, and a trip from Yishun to Dhoby Gaut now costs $1.48. That's so ex. Remeber to tap your ezlink cards when you alight from buses, people. You won't want to pay $3 for a trip which used to only cost you 45cents. :(