New Year’s Day through the ages

As a new year dawns, it brings with it a feeling of rejuvenation and the promise of a fresh start. This year brings a national election and hope that the economy will pick up slightly due to better energy supply.

Throughout the ages, January 1 has been associated with new beginnings, resolutions and festivities – but has the day historically met expectations? Caxton Network News takes a look:

1773:
The beautiful hymn that we now know as Amazing Grace was first heard on New Year’s Day in the market town of Olney in England. It was written by a minister, John Newton, as part of a sermon, called “Faith’s Review and Expectation”. The text was put to music later.
Before his life in the ministry, Newton was part of the Atlantic slave trade and came to regret his actions during that time, eventually campaigning against slavery. The lyrics are about redemption and God’s grace.

1808:
This was the dawn of not just a new year, but a new era when the importation of slaves into the United States was declared illegal. However, according to America’s national archives, while the 1808 act that came into effect on January 1 imposed heavy penalties on international traders, it did not end slavery itself.

1895:
On January 1, 128 years ago, German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen introduced X-rays to the world. After investigating and confirming what was initially an accidental discovery – including X-raying his wife’s hand – he posted 90 articles about his discovery to physicists across Europe.

Röntgen named the discovery X-radiation, or X-rays, after the mathematical term “X”, which denotes something unknown. The article landed on the desk of the editor of Vienna’s leading daily newspaper, Die Presse. Knowing he had a scoop on his hands, the editor changed the front-page story for the next day’s issue, working through the night to create an article that would clearly describe the findings. The story appeared under the headline: “A sensational discovery”. Describing the potential of this discovery, the article said: “If we let our fantasies run freely… this could be of immeasurable help for the diagnosis of countless diseases.”

1925:
What a start to a new year. Astronomer Edwin Hubble’s discovery of galaxies outside the Milky Way was shared with a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Discover magazine reports that his discovery “increased the size of the known universe by a staggering factor of 100 000”. “It set the stage for the discovery of the expanding universe and, by extension, an initial Big Bang. If any date can be said to be the birthday of modern cosmology, this is it.”

1987:
The National Party (NP) government-imposed state of emergency was in place because of the “revolutionary climate” and ongoing political violence, so it came as little surprise when the year started with an attack on members of the SADF in Alexandra, Johannesburg. One soldier was killed and several wounded.The NP went on to win that year’s white-only general election. Seven years later, after the fall of apartheid, the first democratic elections were held in South Africa.

1992:
South Africans awoke to an exciting new world. In just 10 days, singer Paul Simon would be performing live at Ellis Park Stadium, thereby ending South Africa’s international cultural boycott.

1999:
On January 1, 11 European Union countries launched the euro as their new common currency.

2000:
When the new millennium dawned, it ended months of fears that the Year 2000 bug (Y2K) had not changed life as we knew it.
Y2K referred to potential computer problems which might have resulted when dates used in computer systems moved from the year 1999 to the year 2000. There were fears that when clocks hit midnight, chaos would follow because of widespread computer system failures.

2005:
The University of Johannesburg came into existence on January 1, following the merger of the Rand Afrikaans University, the Technikon Witwatersrand and the Soweto and East Rand campuses of Vista University.

2020:
Three years ago, the new year was welcomed amid international news reports of an unidentified pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China. Nearly 30 people were sick and the outbreak appeared to be linked to a seafood market. Little did the world know what lay ahead.

2020:
The year started tragically when two women died and six other people were injured in a drive-by shooting at a bar in the Johannesburg suburb of Melville. The attack at the popular Poppy’s restaurant and bar on Seventh Street occurred shortly after 01:00, according to police. The street was filled with merrymakers when the occupants of a BMW X5 with false licence plates shot at the restaurant patrons.

2021:
South Africans’ resilience was tested when then health minister Zweli Mkhize announced that the country had breached the 18 000 mark for daily Covid-19 infections, while the death toll stood at 28 469.

2021:
Adding to the devastation was the news of a fire that had ripped through Taiwan informal settlement in Khayelitsha on New Year’s Day, destroying over 100 homes and leaving hundreds homeless.

2022:
The year was seen in by large gatherings of people after a last-minute announcement on December 30, that the Covid-19 midnight to 04:00 curfew had been scrapped. Indoor events were restricted to a maximum of 1 000 people and outdoor events to 2 000 people.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported on January 1 that fatalities stood at a total of 91 198.

2023:
South Africa was in mourning after the horror gas tanker explosion in Boksburg on Christmas Eve. On New Year’s Day, the death toll stood at 34. It would eventually rise to 41.

2023:
At least nine people, including four children, die as people rushed to see a New Year’s Day fireworks show at a shopping mall in Kampala, Uganda.

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