Test Your Resolve

In the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, it often happens that friends will ask each other, “Have you made any New Year’s resolutions?”

Whether the answer is yes or no, the astute will be aware that the resolution tradition has ancient beginnings. It is commonly accepted that as early as 1,700 B.C., the Babylonians were in the practice of reaffirming their loyalty to their reigning king during the winter festival Akitu as well as swearing oaths to return borrowed items and repay debts. Other historical claims abound, such as the one that has ancient Romans making promises to the god Janus for the new year to come, and even European medieval knights making a “peacock vow” of continued chivalry at Christmas feasts, although in that case it is closer to the truth to imagine them each outdoing the last in unlikely boasts about future achievements over the roasted bird, as the spirits flowed ever more freely.