History of New Year’s Eve Traditions
New Year’s Eve in New York City is rife with traditions. While the Times Square Ball Drop is obviously the most famous NYC New Year’s Eve Tradition, so is the New York Road Runners’ midnight run, complete with fireworks over Central Park. But let’s zoom in even further and look at the origins of traditions such as New Year’s Eve numeral glasses and New Year’s Eve kisses. Where, why, and when did these originate? Let’s explore.
New Year’s Eve Numeral Glasses
Can you remember a New Year’s Eve without the famous New Year’s Eve Numeral Glasses? You know, the plastic glasses where the frames spell out the incoming year? Well, while these glasses may seem like they’ve been around forever, they weren’t actually a thing until 1991. Two stoner musicians came up with the idea for these glasses, Richard Schlagani and Peter Cicero. The doodles out the idea and the set out to make them reality. 1991 was the first year these glasses hit the market. The pair made 10,000 and sent free sample casinos across the country. It was expensive and on their own dime, but it turned out to be a great investment because the glasses were a huge hit, and casinos and other vendors quickly put in orders for next year. They navigated the U.S. patent system and received a patent in 1992, and the rest is New Year’s history. Well, there is a whole thing about knock-offs and whether or not China respects U.S. copyright law, so you can pretty much guarantee the glasses you wear this year are cheap knock-offs, we’ll always honor the two musicians who first made us smile.
New Year’s Eve Kiss
Have you ever found yourself hoping for that one magical kiss on New Year’s eve when the clock strikes midnight? Why is that we kiss on New Year’s Eve? Kissing on New Year’s Eve dates back to ancient times. The tradition can be traced back to Saturnalia, in Ancient Rome. The winter solstice was celebrated with the Feast of Saturnalia. Saturnalia was several days of feasting, gift-giving, and a fair amount of mixed adult…er… cuddling, shall we say. The idea was to bring good fortune and ensure that the new year was fertile in as many ways as possible. In fact, the New Year’s Eve smooch has tamed down significantly over time. It is said that this tamed down tradition was brought to the U.S. by German immigrants. The earliest documentation of the New Year’s Eve kiss in the U.S. was in 1893 and was, unsurprisingly, in New York City.
New Year’s Eve Ball Drop
There have been documented NYE celebrations in Times Square since 1904. They were organized by New York Times editor Adolph Ochs to celebrate the new New York Times headquarters at One Times Square, and they usually involved fireworks. But in 1907, due to safety concerns, the fireworks directly over the crowd were banned. That is when someone, perhaps the newspaper’s chief electrician, Walter F. Palmer, came up with the idea of a time ball, popular in world naval traditions. The first ball was made out of iron and wood and illuminated by a hundred incande scent lightbulbs. Today’s ball is the ninth iteration of this ball and it’s known as the constellation ball. It features 5280 Waterford Crystals in circular shapes, different from the triangular shapes of its predecessor. It’s a truly stunning piece of art, and you can now visit it up-close with the One Times Square experience. While you’re in Times Square, check out how you can appear for a full day on the Welcome To Times Square Billboard for just $150.