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 New Year's Day Traditions

New Year's Day Traditions

A Short Reader

Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.2

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    resolution, lifestyle, quitting, habit, celebration, early, improve, dates, world, promise, certain, themselves, date, often, late, football
     content words:    New Year, Chinese New Year, United States, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas

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New Year's Day Traditions
By Joyce Furstenau 		  
1     The New Year's celebration is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. Back then, the New Year began around the time of the first day of spring in late March. The date was changed to January 1 in 46 B.C. when the Julian calendar was introduced. For most of the world, the New Year has been on that date ever since.
 
2     The tradition of making New Year's resolutions also goes back to the early Babylonians. A New Year's resolution is promise people make to themselves to drop a bad habit or to improve their lifestyle. The most popular resolutions are quitting smoking, losing weight, and starting a fitness routine.
 
3     Bringing in the New Year with fireworks is a tradition that dates back to ancient Chinese New Year celebrations. Fireworks were used to ward off bad luck and evil spirits. Some of the biggest New Year's fireworks displays in the United States can be seen at the stroke of midnight in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas.

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