Celebration of What?

I was born on September 12, 1983. Looking at the calendar, last Tuesday was supposed to be my 23rd birthday. When I was a kid, I considered birthday as the perfect time to ask some treats from my parents. Birthday was an acceptable excuse behind my wanting to be spoiled with presents and nice foods. Birthday, for me, has never been an important occasion when everybody is supposed to shower me with their attention. Doesn’t mean that I won’t accept birthday gifts if they’re shoved in front of my face, though ^_~.

But what so damn important about birthday anyway? Or any other form of anniversary and commemorative date for that matter? Actually, the date is insubstantial; the event is. For example, Americans celebrate their Independence Day every 4th of July. What are they celebrating: 4th of July or their independence from Britain? The (blatantly obvious) answer is the latter, of course. It’s far more practical to define a particular date of independence rather than saying, “Let’s celebrate our Independence Day every midsummer”.

The same rationale applied to birthday celebration. Why do you think people make such a fuss about 17th birthday? It’s simply because the age of seventeen marks one’s legal responsibilities (and rights) in the eyes of the law. You get your ID, are allowed to have a driver’s license, could do anything you wish without needing your parents consent, etc. On the other hand, people will be more reluctant to celebrate their birthday when they get older because it only reminds them that their time is ticking and less time left in the world (Oprah would’ve probably disagreed with that notion ^_^).

That’s why it’s laughable to see people get excited over New Year celebration. Are they excited because they get to change their old almanac with a new one? People celebrate New Year just for the sake of it, regardless the fact that it has no substance whatsoever.

One could claim that New Year is the perfect time to evaluate his past deeds and make new target which one wants to achieve in the near future (the infamous “New Year’s Resolution”, which is made to be broken most of the times). But if that’s just the case of making personal improvements, why wait until the earth evolves the sun one more time? Surely, the concept of “New Year” has been overly exaggerated. For all I know, we could’ve possibly celebrated New Year any other time in the year if only Pope Gregory (was it?) had another say on it.