Cherish your past!-New Year Traditions

 

  Why Do We Count Down to the New Year? Few people counted down to anything until the 1960s and 1970s—and yes, that included the new year How, then, did countdowns go from almost nonexistent to ubiquitous in the latter half of the 20th century? And why are we so drawn to them now, especially to mark one year’s end and another’s beginning? Countdowns as we know them today serve many purposes. The New Year’s Eve countdown might be characterized as a “genesis countdown”: After time runs out, it starts over again. The wait for the new year—with its predictions, resolutions and parties—is typically generative, optimistic and hopeful.  Before the 1970s, countdowns were generally associated with bad things . According to the  extant radio and television broadcasts and newspaper reports shows that it was not until seconds before the arrival of 1979 that a Times Square crowd counted down to the new year. At that moment, it was clear that countdown culture had arrived and was here to stay.