Jehovah's Witnesses - New Years celebrations?

Question

You don't celebrate xmas as you believe it has pagan origins, Im not religious so its irrelevant to me.
But do you celebrate New Year?
That hasn't got any religious connotations unless you want it to have, has it?

What will you as a JW be doing on New Years Eve this year?
As it falls on a Thursday will you have a special talk/assembly at your local KH?

Answer 1

I used to be a JW and am baptised. Xmas and New Year, although not formally celebrated still used to be marked by big dinners and 'informal' celebrations. My wonderful and sincere JW family have chosen to spend the festive season away on holiday where they can celebrate in secret away from the prying eyes of elders.



Yes they have a big Xmas dinner, celebrate new year, and gorge on all the alcohol they can get their hands on. This is of course accepted as it is done in private, no one will ever know. That is except their God they claim to worship. Best wishes to them and a happy new year full of hypocritical preaching, false love, and fake worship x x

Answer 2

Sorry have to make a correction to a rather long winded response which indicates how tied some people are to manmade traditions



Become a Jehovah's Witness and you CAN...



Celebrate Father's Day if your conscience allows it

Celebrate Grandparent's Day

Celebrate a holiday if there are no pagan associations with it

Sing any Holiday Songs..."were all going on a summer holiday" is the 1st that comes to mind!

Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving if you so wish

Create Holiday artwork in school - my daughter achieved an award for best artwork for her winter scene when the rest were doing xmas cards

Buy Girl Scout Cookies

Attend class reunions if ones conscience allows it

Go to the school prom if ones conscience allows it

Play school sports..its a fun and healthy activity

Donate to Charities

Shop at any store that has Christian ties - I buy Bible and colouring books at the local Christian bookshop

Become a Police Officer

Attend Alcoholics Anonymous

Strike against a Company

Work in the United Nations building but not in a position which indicates political activities

Can join union, and participate in its affairs

Run for class president

Participate in holiday parties at school if the school is inclusive and makes it a holiday party and not an xmas one

Can donate to charity

Use fertilisers in your garden which has blood products in them

Have wind charms if your conscience lets you - I do

If your conscience allows you, Sky Diving & Hang Gliding

Have Jesus as your Mediator and Savior

Can partake in the Memorial of Jesus' death, by eating the unleavened bread or drinking the wine if you are from the from the 144,000

Have Bible study groups or a family study group

Associate on a regular basis with nonbelievers when at work

Sue another Jehovah's Witness after all other avenues have been exhausted

Marry a nonbeliever although it is not recommended - no punishments if you choose to

Study other religious articles not from the Society if they are unbiased factual sources

Question the Watchtower Society by writing to the publishers...often your question will be addressed in the Readers Ask column



Have Christian freedom - that is not bound to worldy traditions religious and otherwise

Answer 3

New Year? Really? How? Is it going to be a better year? Are we expecting some miraculous change from December 31st 2009 to January 1st 2010? Hmmm. I think I will do just as I have been doing every year while others are out celebrating and "ringing in the new year" -- I will be in bed asleep. So glad I wont have to worry about getting hit by a drunk driver or seeing any of the other merry making events that will be going on that night.

P.S. I really dont need to think about all of the things that I'm going to try to change or ways to make things better on Dec. 31st at midnight. I will just strive to make those changes everyday and hopes that the next day will be a better day.

Yes, I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses but I made it my personal choice.

Sorry, I hope this doesnt seem sarcastic, didnt mean it to be. :)

Answer 4

No, they are also pagan in origin.



The date and customs associated with New Year’s celebrations vary from one country to another. Regarding the origin of this celebration, The World Book Encyclopedia states: “The Roman ruler Julius Caesar established January 1 as New Year’s Day in 46 B.C. The Romans dedicated this day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. The month of January was named after Janus, who had two faces—one looking forward and the other looking backward.” So New Year’s celebrations are founded on pagan traditions.



We'll have a meeting at the Kingdom Hall on thursday

All our meetings are special ;)

Answer 5

It's just one more self imposed talmudic do's and don'ts:



Become a Jehovah's Witness and you can't...

Celebrate Mother's Day

Celebrate Father's Day

Celebrate Grandparent's Day

Celebrate Birthdays

Celebrate Thanksgiving

Celebrate New Year's Eve or Day

Celebrate Christmas

Celebrate Halloween

Celebrate Easter

Celebrate Flag Day

Celebrate Independence Day (Fourth of July)

Celebrate Hanukkah

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day

Celebrate Valentine's Day

Celebrate "Any" Holiday

Sing any Holiday Songs

Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving

Create Holiday artwork in school

Join the Boy Scouts

Join the Girl Scouts

Buy Girl Scout Cookies

Become a Cheerleader

Attend class reunions (No "Worldly" association)

Go to the school prom

Play School Sports (No competition allowed)

Play Professional Sports

Join any organization that has ties to Christianity

Shop at the Salvation Army

Volunteer for the Salvation Army

Donate to Relief Organizations like the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Charities and more

Shop at Church run thrift stores

Shop at Church Garage Sales

Shop at any Store that has Christian ties

Contribute to the Red Cross

Attend a Church School

Join the YMCA

Join or work for the Military ( work on military bases such as in the PX or clean homes on military bases)

Become a Police Officer

Attend Alcoholics Anonymous

Have any job with a gun

Strike against a Company

Salute the Flag

Sing the National Anthem

Go to War

Wear Clothing Associated with War; e.g. Combats or Army Tops

Work in the United Nations building

Karate - no martial arts of any kind

Vote (Conscience matter now to please Governments, you will be ostracized if you do)

Run for any Public Office

Campaign for a Candidate

Contribute to the Presidential Campaign Fund on your tax return

Can join union, but not participate in its affairs

Run for class president

Join Sororities or Fraternities

Participate in holiday parties at school

Buy lottery tickets

Gamble

Play Bingo

Can't buy a raffle ticket

Date without supervision - young or old

Date unless you are planning to marry them

Watch R rated movies

Cannot work on another Church

Own a religious picture or statue

Smoke cigarettes, pipes or a cigars

Sell cigarettes, pipes or a cigars

Accept Blood

Donate Blood

Store your own blood before an operation

Eat blood sausages or sausages with "plasma" in ingredients

Use fertilizes in your garden which has blood products in them

Wear blue jeans or casual clothes to the Kingdom Hall

Wear pants to the Kingdom Hall if you are a female

Wear skirts or dresses that are above the knee at any time

Wear any type of long hair if you are a man

Wear a beard in some Kingdom Halls and areas (judged hard)

Pierce ears if male, other body parts if female

Have any tattoos

Say curse words

Can't be hypnotized

Get divorced unless scriptural (adultery or fornication is committed by one partner) if you do divorce cannot remarry unless ex fornicates first

Toast drinks (pagan origin)

Throw rice at a wedding (pagan origin)

Say "Bless You" when someone sneezes

Say "Good Luck!", "Wish me Luck", "I was Lucky" or "You were Lucky"

Tell ghost stories

Practice Yoga

Own a Smurf

Eat Lucky Charms Cereal (References to Magical)

Throw a penny into a wishing well

Read Horoscopes

Promote anything Superstitious

Have wind charms because they represent a pagan symbol for scaring away demons

Watch "Magic" acts or do "Magic" tricks

See a Medium or Fortune Teller

Watch TV Shows or Movies, "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch", "Touched by an Angel", "Bewitched" , "Harry Potter", any Occult type shows

Listen to certain classical music, like Shubert's Avé Maria. (Mary worship)

Have ethnic decorative items in the house like Tikis or African masks

Say "It was fate" or mention anything to do with "fate"

Engage in any risky acts such as: Sky Diving, Bungie Jumping & Hang Gliding

Have Jesus as your Mediator and Savior

Can't partake in the Memorial of Jesus' death, by eating the unleavened bread or drinking the wine; only allowed if you are from the elite group of the 144,000

A woman can't hold a position of responsibility in the congregation

Wear or own a Cross

Attend another Church (Spiritual Fornication)

Have unauthorized Bible study groups

Associate on a regular basis with nonbelievers

Associate with ex-members

Associate with disfellowshipped ones

Talk with disfellowshipped ones

Sue another Jehovah's Witness

Marry a nonbeliever (If you do, you are judged hard by the congregation)

Marry in another Church or attend a wedding in another Church

Have a funeral in another Church or attend a funeral in another Church

Pray, including holding your head down, when a nonbeliever prays

Study other religious articles not from the Society

Read negative information about the Society

Question the Watchtower Society on anything

Exercise your on conscience if it goes against the religion

Question the Society or the Organization

Have Christian freedom



Good to see a jw narrowing down the list. Glad to see that at least Dad can be given a day, mom has to wait for the new order I guess.



I wonder how many emails are flying about sister's list tsk tsk tsk.

Answer 6

Actually, there are religious connotations. The month of January was named after Janus (Ianus), the Roman god of gates. He's often depicted as having two faces, so that he can watch the old year go out and the new one come in; there's one in a Vatican museum. He was probably derived from the Chaldean Ba'al-ianus, as was the Mesopotamian Uanna from the 7th century BCE or before.

Answer 7

As the others said, nope we don't/Yup it's Pagan.



I actually saw on Wiki *I think it was* an article about New Year's being pagan, whilst I was looking up Christmas.

Answer 8

Yes it does have pagan religious origins.



New Year’s Celebrations. The date and customs associated with New Year’s celebrations vary from one country to another. Regarding the origin of this celebration, The World Book Encyclopedia states: “The Roman ruler Julius Caesar established January 1 as New Year’s Day in 46 B.C. The Romans dedicated this day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. The month of January was named after Janus, who had two faces—one looking forward and the other looking backward.” So New Year’s celebrations are founded on pagan traditions.



Suppose you discover a creek with sparkling water, tempting you to drink of it. When you go up the stream, however, you find campers washing their dirty mess-tins and soiled clothes in that water. Would you still want to drink the water and risk contracting a disease? The same can be said of the customs of New Year’s celebrations. Though some celebrations may seem innocent to men, Jehovah, the God of the Bible, has seen their source.

Well, where do we find the earliest record of a New Year’s celebration? “The earliest description of a New Year festival known to us comes from ancient Mesopotamia,” answers Theodor Gaster in his book New Year—Its History, Customs and Superstitions. The clay tablets describing the New Year festival record “a program of ceremonies performed at Babylon since the remote days of the second millennium B.C.”

The Babylonian year started about the vernal equinox—in the month of March. The celebration lasted 11 days and was centered around the worship of Marduk, the city god of Babylon. The vestiges of the New Year festival of Babylon, such as mummers’ plays and fertility rites, are still observed during New Year’s celebrations around the world. The mummers’ parade in the city of Philadelphia (U.S.A.) on New Year’s Day and the fertility festival held in Akita City (Japan) on the 17th of January are but two examples of such relics.

God sees the religious practices originating in Babylon as polluted. He refers to the world empire of false religion, with its customs rooted in ancient Babylon, as “Babylon the Great” and warns: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:2, 4) Therefore, since the features of New Year’s celebrations betray their pagan origins, people wanting to heed the Bible will steer clear of such festivities.

Answer 9

It is deemed as pagan though there is not pagan connection or pagan god worshipped.



Every Watchtower has the month name on it such as "January" so the Watchtower by the same logic must be honouring Janus for the month of January. Perhaps the Watchtower can someday drop the silliness of their superstitious teaching.

Answer 10

Actually, that is also rooted in very old pagan and Heathen customs. New Year's day is the last day of Jul/Yule in my tradition. (Jul lasts 12 days for us.) I highly doubt they would celebrate it as they aren't supposed to do pagan/Heathen things.

Answer 11

The Bible’s Viewpoint

Should Christians Share in New Year’s Festivities?

“THE afternoon before New Year’s Eve is unusually calm,” says Fernando, a medical doctor in Brazil. “Then, about 11 o’clock, they start to arrive—a steady stream of patients with stab wounds or gunshot wounds, teenagers injured in automobile accidents, and battered wives. Alcohol is nearly always a factor.”

Considering the above, it is hardly surprising that one Brazilian journal referred to the first day of the year as international hangover day. A European news agency says that “New Year is for the lay hedonist,” adding that it is “one more round in the eternal battle of man pitched against alcohol.”

Granted, not everyone celebrates the New Year by drinking heavily and committing acts of violence. In fact, many have fond memories of the occasion. “As children, we could hardly wait for New Year’s Eve,” says Fernando, quoted earlier. “There were always lots of games, food, and drink. At midnight we would embrace, kiss, and wish one another ‘Happy New Year!’”

Similarly, many today feel that they share in New Year’s festivities without going overboard. Still, Christians do well to examine the origin and significance of this popular celebration. Do New Year’s festivities conflict with Bible teachings?

Facts From the Past

New Year’s festivities are not new. Ancient inscriptions indicate that they were held in Babylon as early as the third millennium B.C.E. The celebration, which was observed in mid-March, was crucial. “At that time the god Marduk decided the destiny of the country for the coming year,” says The World Book Encyclopedia. The Babylonian new year celebration lasted 11 days and included sacrifices, processions, and fertility rites.

For a time, the Romans too began their year in the month of March. But in 46 B.C.E., Emperor Julius Caesar decreed that it should begin on the first of January. That day was already dedicated to Janus, the god of beginnings, and now it would also mark the first day of the Roman year. The date changed, but the carnival atmosphere persisted. On the first of January, people “gave themselves up to riotous excess,” says McClintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia, “and various kinds of heathen superstition.”

Even today, superstitious rituals play a part in New Year’s festivities. For example, in some areas of South America, many welcome the New Year while standing on their right foot. Others sound horns and set off firecrackers. According to a Czech custom, New Year’s Eve is a time for eating lentil soup, while a Slovak tradition has people placing money or fish scales under the tablecloth. Such rituals, designed to ward off ill fortune and guarantee prosperity, merely perpetuate the ancient belief that the turn of the year is a time for deciding destinies.

The Bible’s View

The Bible admonishes Christians to “walk decently, not in revelries and drunken bouts.” (Romans 13:12-14; Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Peter 4:3) Since New Year’s festivities are often characterized by the very excesses that the Bible condemns, Christians do not participate in them. This does not mean that Christians are killjoys. On the contrary, they know that the Bible repeatedly tells worshipers of the true God to rejoice—and that for a number of reasons. (Deuteronomy 26:10, 11; Psalm 32:11; Proverbs 5:15-19; Ecclesiastes 3:22; 11:9) The Bible also acknowledges that food and drink often accompany rejoicing.—Psalm 104:15; Ecclesiastes 9:7a.

As we have seen, however, New Year’s celebrations are rooted in pagan customs. False worship is unclean and detestable in the eyes of Jehovah God, and Christians reject practices that have such origins. (Deuteronomy 18:9-12; Ezekiel 22:3, 4) The apostle Paul wrote: “What fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial?” For good reason, Paul added: “Quit touching the unclean thing.”—2 Corinthians 6:14-17a.

Christians also realize that taking part in superstitious rituals does not guarantee happiness and prosperity—especially since participating in such festivities can result in God’s disfavor. (Ecclesiastes 9:11; Isaiah 65:11, 12) Furthermore, the Bible admonishes Christians to be moderate and self-controlled in their conduct. (1 Timothy 3:2, 11) Clearly, it would be improper for one who professes to follow Christ’s teachings to be part of a celebration that is characterized by riotous excess.

As eye-catching and appealing to the senses as New Year’s festivities may be, the Bible tells us to “quit touching the unclean thing” and to “cleanse ourselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit.” To those who comply, Jehovah extends the heartwarming guarantee: “I will take you in. . . . I shall be a father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me.” (2 Corinthians 6:17b–7:1) Indeed, he promises eternal blessings and prosperity to those who are loyal to him.—Psalm 37:18, 28; Revelation 21:3, 4, 7

Answer 12

It does have religious connotation, sorry.



We'll be doing what we do every Thursday.



We didn't change our schedule on Ramadan either :)

Answer 13

No we don't. We will have a regular meeting on thursday evening.