HAPPY NEW YEAR!

---COMMUNITY NEWS RELEASE---

(December 28, 2007)--- 2007 is coming to a close and it is time once again to look forward to another New Year.  Mayor Eddie A. Perez wishes all city residents and employees a happy and healthy 2008.

Mayor Perez says, “Hartford has many things to look forward to in 2008.  The Connecticut Science Center will open, the Front Street development will be underway, and the city will focus on new opportunities to grow and continue our unprecedented revitalization.  The momentum and excitement are building!”

First Night Hartford 2008 will be held on Monday, December 31^st and will help residents and visitors alike ring in the New Year.  Log on to http://www.firstnighthartford.org/ for more details and information.

And as you wish friends and family a “Happy New Year,” here are a few “did you know” traditional factoids:

1.      While popular modern day resolutions might include the promise to lose weight, exercise more, or quit smoking, the early Babylonians most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.

2.      The Tournament of Roses Parade dates back to 1886.  That’s when members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with flowers to celebrate the ripening of the orange crop in California.

3.      The tradition of using a picture of a baby to symbolize the New Year dates back to Ancient Greece around 600 B.C.  The Germans brought the image of a baby with a New Year’s banner to early America.

4.      The song “Auld Lang Syne” is sung at the stroke of midnight in many English-speaking countries.  It was published in 1796, based on an old Scotch tune by the same name that literally means “old long ago.”

(Source:  New Year’s Day--- History, Traditions, and Customs)