Happy 2007

Happy New Year! Our date with dates continues. Though we all know that every day is the beginning of another year (or, the rest of your life----Richard Bach, I think), there is something magical about New Year's Eve, and New Year's day. As we upend the hour glass, or year glass, we renew our promises to ourselves---including the one about getting hour-glass figures! The new year always holds out hope, and gives our faith in ourselves, a shot in the arm. We look back on the year gone by, and say to ourselves, "Never mind if I couldn't do such-and-such, I'll definitely do it this year."
Sometimes, the year gone by seems very long--we read about a movie released early in the year, and think, "Oh, was it only this year?" How long ago it seems! And sometimes it flies by, eliciting from us a sigh, "But it seems just yesterday that----". Then there is the delightful superstition that whatever you do today, you'll be doing for the rest of the year. Which is probably why we are so genuinely nice to everyone today!
Festivals are about religion, about reaping. The New Year is about renewal.
Random thought: I'll probably be doing dishes all year long, because my maid took an off for Id-ul-Zuha today!