Where did this New Year resolution culture come from?

The custom of setting new year’s resolutions was first established by the ancient Babylonians, who were said to be the earliest people to make new year’s resolutions, around 4,000 years ago. These people were the first to hold recorded celebrations in honor of the new year. For them, the year began in mid-March, as opposed to January. During a twelve-day religious festival called Akitu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or proposed their loyalty to the current one.

They also made commitments to the gods to pay their debts and return all items they had borrowed. These promises were considered resolutions. For early Christians, the initial day of the New Year became the usual time for contemplating one's past blunders and promising to do better in the future. In 1740, the English clergyman John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, instituted the Covenant Renewal Service, which was an alternative to the typical rowdy New Year’s Eve parties and celebrations.

The New Year resolution culture is not something that started recently; it actually started about 4000 years ago by Babylonians. During this period, the new year celebration was in March, according to the old Roman calendar. According to history, Babylonians would seize the opportunity of an eleven-day festival that precedes The New Year to offer sacrifices to God and to engage themselves in different kinds of celebrations.

However, on the last day of the festival would be the time for them to make different kinds of wishes and also pray for themselves with the hope that God will answer their prayers as they embark on the journey of another year. The practice or culture has not died; it is something everybody is doing until today. Most new year resolutions are mostly prayers, but there are many other things to it than prayers. You can make resolutions about a particular habit you want to stop in the coming year. You can also set some targets for yourself while you wait for their fulfillment.