NEW YEAR'S GRAND OPENING. Following the disastrous fire of Feb.1883, two new brick buildings were built on the west side of Bradford's Main Street. On Dec. 31, 1883 a grand opening was held to dedicate the new Stevens Block as it join the Union Block to its north. Over the years, this building was the home to a number of stores and offices. Today, the Stevens Block houses a restaurant, book store and forist/antique store.
ADVICE A CENTURY OLD. This illustration appeared in The United Opinion on Dec. 31, 1905. As with then, breaking resolutions is just as common today as making them. Like blown bubbles they are usually temporary, with their likelihood of lasting fraught with temptation and subsequent failure. The editor of the Opinion suggested:"New Year's resolutions are better never made than never kept."
NEW YEAR'S BABY: Since ancient times, newborns have represented the birth of the new year. They are often pictured opposite an aged man, representative of Father Time, making ready his exit.
From 1929 to 1976 Guy Lombardo and The Royal Canadians were synonymous with New Year's Eve. First on the radio and then on television he led the nation in the countdown to midnight. |
With 2016 on the horizon, plans for New Year’s celebrations may already
be made. As with local residents in the
past, those plans probably vary widely.
This column describes New Year’s observances in earlier decades. It only
reviews the celebration of the western Christian version, one of many observed
around the world.
Until 1582 the official calendar in Europe was the Julian calendar with
each year beginning in March. That year
the Gregorian calendar was introduced with the year ending on December 31. This
new and more accurate calendar was gradually accepted in most European nations
and in 1752 it became the official calendar for England and its colonies.
Prior to its official acceptance, most New Englanders followed the
practice of celebrating the year’s end right after Christmas. The observance of
New Year’s had a medieval tradition linked with the “riotous and hedonistic” character
of the Festival of Fools.
By the 16th century this practice had
generally died out In England young men followed an ancient practice of apple
howling or wassailing. Depending on the alcoholic content of the bowl, this
practice undoubtedly led to some degree of youthful celebration.
Puritan ministers thought New Year’s Day to be unchristian and unsavory,
a Pagan relic in worship of the Roman
god Janus. To church leaders, prayer was
the only accepted activity. Sermons called upon all to review the “follies and
crimes which have tempted them during the year past.”
Many English and Scottish settlers had traditions that made New Year’s
celebrations second only to Christmas. Ryegate’s Scottish founders kept New
Year’s Day with feasting and home coming. This was similar to the custom of
paying New Year’s calls and open houses practiced by the Dutch of New York.
Special refreshments were served. These customs spread throughout the young
country.
By the 1830s, New England New Year’s Day observances were established, setting a pattern for the rest of the century.
While many went about their normal activities, they may have spent some time in
solemn reflection and prayer.
Card parties, social visiting and sleigh rides were held as well as
“frolics and dances.” New Year’s cards equaled Christmas ones and advertisements
for gifts included both end-of-year holidays.
On Jan. 2, 1875, the Bradford
Opinion announced that a New Year’s Dance was to be held that week at West
Fairlee’s Whitney Hall, and “a good time is expected.”
In the next quarter
century, a number of local holiday events were held. In 1889, Corinth held a
traditional rifle match and, in 1892, held a “huge New Year’s Ball.” Bradford’s
new Stevens Block celebrated a grand opening on Dec. 31, 1883. By 1889 most
states, with the exception of New Hampshire, observed Jan. 1st as a
legal holiday.
Bad weather did not prevent Lyme patrons from attending the 1896
holiday dance at the Union Hotel or 30 couples from attending a ball and supper
at the school house in East Corinth. Newspapers reported that “phenomenal
weather attended New Year’s day…the damage to roads and bridges have been
large, and larger to fences, fields and forests.” Bad weather at that time of
year was not uncommon. In 1899, New Year’s “came in rough and cold.”
One of the roughest New Year’s was in 1917-18 when the temperature remained
below minus 9 degrees for five consecutive days. That cold combined with fuel shortages closed
churches and schools. A party held by
Bradford’s Charity Lodge was impacted by the cold weather and the late arrival
of the train bearing the orchestra.
Reports of New Year’s family reunions, weddings, anniversary
observances and open houses were reported regularly in local newspapers. Parish
parties competed with private card parties, concerts and organizational
gatherings.
Jan. 1, 1900 was observed by many as the beginning of the new century,
despite scoffs from purists who said the century did not end until Dec. 31,
1900. There was “evidence of confused minds.” But whenever the actual day was
suppose to be celebrated, the new century
was greeted with high expectations.
A
“Hail and Farewell” editorial appeared in the Dec. 28, 1900 edition of
Brattleboro’s Vermont Phoenix: “The
hundred years to come will bring to the world better things and reveal to
human-kind greater wonders and possibilities than any century that has gone
before.”
In the new century, locals were as likely to attend a baked bean and
oyster supper or church service as a dance or party. For the first time and
with little fanfare, New Hampshire observed New Year’s Day as a legal holiday
in 1910. It was suggested that New Hampshire residents might just as well
“erase it from the calendar” as it “will never amount to much.”
In the years before World War I, local papers did not mention the events
in Times Square but noted the new Rose
Parade. “Not equal to a Vermont pageant” was one comment. With Jack Frost as a
“master decorator”, another editor wrote, “We have a mid-winter decoration that
will eclipse anything in the floral line.”
New Year observances in the 1920s continued to show the differences
between activities. Parsonage
receptions, church services and Methodist watch-night events offer alternatives
to parties and dances. In 1922, Newbury High School held a New Year’s Ball and
Mardi Gras Party complete with Klark’s Orchestra and participants partied
“until the wee small hours.” A ball was held in Bradford annually. In 1928
Fairlee’s holiday dance featured the
Chase Orchestra from Middlesex.
It is difficult to determine whether prohibition affected these
non-church events. While illegal alcohol was readily available, many local
residents nevertheless did not drink
alcohol. Probably New Year’s 1934 was different from the previous 14 as
Prohibition came to an end on Dec. 5, 1933. It is also difficult to determine
whether the Great Depression affected New Year’s celebrations.
Local newspaper reports describe the same types of secular and
religious observances as in previous decades, with the addition of special
motion picture shows. An annual newspaper feature was a national news “year in
review” column.
New Year’s Day falling on Sunday did have an impact. The United
Opinion of Dec. 30, 1932 predicted the usual dances and parties, but “the
New Year’s revelry will be somewhat depressed at midnight with the advent of
Sunday, but New Year’s activities will, in many instances, be resumed Monday.”
If that was not depressing enough, the advent of war abroad was
reflected in New Year’s messages. In
Dec. 1938 the local paper announced that the Newbury Men’s Club would hold a
basket supper followed by dancing. It also editorialized: “Let’s hope the new
year will not see the world embroiled in war.”
But war came anyway and New Year’s events were more likely to be held
with service members attending in uniform or absent altogether. Despite gas rationing, festivities, including
the Vershire town dance featuring the Down Easterners and the Piermont
Christmas Club party at the town hall, were well attended.
New Year’s editorials during the period from 1940-1945 commented on the
“misery in the world” followed by “cautious greetings,” and finally “glimmers
of hope” for the new year. Bradford’s
Grace Methodist Church continued
to hold the annual watch-night service or couples could go for supper and
dancing at the Bradford Inn for $1.25 per person.
The end of the war brought renewed interest in public events to
celebrate the holiday. In 1946 and 1947, the East Corinth Firemen held their
annual dance at the Community Hall.
December 31, 1948 featured many activities including a Legion Dance and
Odd Fellows Party in Bradford, a dance at Newbury, two square dance parties in
Fairlee, dancing at Bedell’s Barn in Orford and numerous private home parties
and church services.
The half-century mark, Jan. 1, 1950, was Sunday and the local Bradford
churches held a joint service, but “for those with a slightly more worldly
inclination” there was a supper-dance at the Bradford Inn. The Bradford Legion
promised that on the Monday holiday “an even better time than you had last
year.” That better time was followed up on the following December 31st
with a Legion sponsored burlesque show at the Bradford Theatre.
In the 1950’s, Bedell’s Barn introduced their New Year’s Dawn Dance
beginning at midnight and ending at 4 am. In 1954 the Fairlee VFW held a
members’ event at their new headquarters and the East Corinth Firemen again
held their holiday dance. It was announced that “bars have been given
permission by the State Liquor Board to remain open until 3 a.m.”
On New Year’s Eve 1955 one could
select from a dance in West Topsham featuring Don’s Rythamaires, a Roller Skating Party at
Pineland in Wells River and a midnight showing of “Ain’t Misbehavin’”at the Bradford Theatre.
During the decades to follow, the pattern of celebrations reflected changing
economic and social conditions. New venues like the 111 Club and the Lake Morey
Resort replaced old ones. New bands led by Chub Benjamin and Bob Hanley
emerged. As World War II veterans aged, their sponsorships of holiday dances were
replaced by younger National Guard Enlisted Men’s Clubs.
Many restaurants began to feature New Year’s suppers for early diners
or brunch buffets on New Year’s Day. Guy Lombardo was replaced by Dick Clark. A
new century replaced the old but without the predicted Y2K implosion.
While there were fewer church services to commemorate the New Year,
First Night celebrations in urban centers offered family-centered non-alcoholic
events. Law-enforcement efforts reduced the number of impaired drivers during
the high risk holiday season. Many just stayed home and watched holiday shows
on television, celebrated with friends in a low-key fashion or just went to bed
early and avoided the hoopla, the champagne toast and the singing of “Auld Lang
Syne” altogether. Some cut off celebrations early as their New Year’s plans
included climbing Mt. Moosilauke. Many had plans that included a New Year's Day of watching football bowls or participating in outdoor activities.
What hasn’t changed in the time since early days is the recognition
that the end of the year is a time for reflection. January is named for the
two-faced Roman god Janus, one face looking to the past and the other to the
future. This is more than a day to break out a fresh calendar.
In 1821 Charles
Lamb suggested that New Year’s is “the nativity of our common Adam… the one of
two birthdays each person has annually.” In the 1880’s Henry Ward Beecher
wrote: “Every man should be born again
on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in
the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances.”
For many it is the time to turn over a new leaf. They might follow the
advice of the 1802 satirical poem “New Year’s Gift or Naughty Folks Reformed”
and review “the folly and crimes which have tempted us within the year.” Rev.
Joseph Washburn advised in an 1805 New Year’s sermon that “We stand at the
close of one year, and the commence of another. A year…by which dying men
measure out the short and uncertain period of the existence allotted them, in
the present probationary state.”
That being said, it is common to use the occasion for reflection. For
many it means being resolved to lose the weight holiday feasting brought on or
perhaps giving up smoking or some other habit that bothers.
Breaking resolutions is just as common as making them. Some resolve
that the only resolution they will make is to make no resolutions, especially
as the likelihood of success is so fraught with temptation and subsequent
failure. In 1907 the editor of The United
Opinion suggested: “New Year’s resolutions are better never made than never
kept.”
Advice on the subject is plentiful and appeared annually in advice
columns, editorials, television talk shows and sermons. Perhaps for the
resolution makers the best advice was given in an editorial in the Dec. 27,
1922 Caledonian-Record: “New Year’s is a good time to cherish new purposes, but
in forming them one must expect that they will have to be renewed and confirmed
with equal energy at very frequent intervals.”