Leaves on this Family Tree

Withering Away

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Father Time and Baby New Year

Just a little New Years Info.

Remember, my birthday Give Away begins January 1, 2011.

Glitter Graphics

Happy New Year Glitter Pictures




Father Time is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, dressed in a robe, carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device (representing time's constant movement). This image derives from many sources, including the Grim Reaper and Chronos, the Greek god of time.

In various New Year's Eve customs, Father Time's image is used as the personification of the previous year (or "the Old Year"), who "hands over" the duties of time to the Baby New Year (or "the New Year"). In this case, his old age is emphasized (in particular, he may be depicted walking with the aid of a stick).

Early depiction of Father Time and Bay New Year (Source-Wikipedia)
The Baby New Year is an American personification of the start of a new year, commonly seen in various New Year's customs, especially holiday cards and illustrations for store window displays.

The stereotypical representation of Baby New Year is as a male baby wearing nothing more than a diaper, a top hat and a sash across his torso that shows the year he is representing. Sometimes he is holding an hourglass or is otherwise associated with one. Often, he is not a complete newborn but is slightly older, because he is frequently shown standing on his own, barely walking, or having a small amount of head hair.

The myth associated with him is that he is a baby at the beginning of his year, but Baby New Year quickly grows up until he is an elderly bearded man like Father Time at the end of his year. At this point, he hands over his duties to the next Baby New Year.

In addition to being a mythical figure, the Baby New Year is sometimes a real person. The first baby born in any village or city in a certain year may be honored by being labeled as the official Baby New Year for that year. The official Baby New Year can be male or female, even though the mythical Baby New Year is nearly always male. Attempts to name an official Baby New Year for an entire country have sometimes been made, but generally there are multiple contenders and no single Baby New Year can be confirmed.

Glitter Graphics

Happy New Year Glitter Pictures




Information from Wikipedia.

2 comments:

  1. Happy New Year Paula and thanks for dropping by. I hope you are going to have the best year ever. I've got your parcel all wrapped with the extra goodies I mentioned before and as soon as the post office is open they are on their way! Keep warm and cozy! Can't wait to see what you have up your sleeve for this year for all of us to see.

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  2. Happy New Year, Paula. Have missed you!

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