Happy New Year to all family, fraternity and friends!!!!
Champagne toasts, countdown parties, the iconic ball drop at Times Square — New Year’s Eve is famously known for its rowdy, fun-filled festivities honoring the start of the new calendar, and is one of the most celebrated holidays around the world. But did you know that the start of the new year wasn’t always celebrated on January 1, or that it was first commemorated with a festival lasting a total of 11 days?
When did New Year’s Day become a holiday?
According to History.com, the earliest recorded celebration to honor the new year is believed to date back some 4,000 years — in 2,000 B.C. — to ancient Babylon. For these Mesopotamians, the beginning of the new year was heralded by the first new moon after the vernal equinox — which took place around late March — and was celebrated with a huge 11-day festival called Akitu, which involved a different ritual on each of its days. The holiday celebrated the mythical victory of the sky god Marduk over the sea goddess Tiamat, and also involved the act of either crowning a new king or allowing the old king to continue his rule. Either way, this 11-day festival would probably have put our current New Year’s Eve parties to shame!
What does New Year’s Day mean in the Third District?
It means more work to uplift our communities (43 chapters in Washington, D.C. and Virginia), it means more donations given to our undergraduate’s endowment accounts, it means supporting St. Jude Research Hospital, it means more undergraduates will graduate this year, it means providing food and clothing to the less fortunate and it means given until it hurts so that others may live. Please visit our website at 3rddistrictques.org for more information.
Happy New Year’s Day to all that are associated with the Third District, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
God Bless you all!
Conrado B. Morgan
Brother Conrado B. Morgan
Third District, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.