New Year’s Eve 2024 In The Canton Area

CANTON, CT — New Year's Eve is Tuesday, Dec. 31, with folks ready to ring in 2025 after a very interesting 2024.

Here is a look at some of what is going on in the Canton area to celebrate the new year:

• First Night Hartford: Events in Connecticut's capital city start at 2 p.m. and culminate with a midnight countdown to 2025.

In between, Hartford's Bushnell Park on Jewell Street is home to two fireworks shows (one at 6 p.m. for the kids, the other at midnight) as well as myriad winter activities throughout the city.

For more information and to purchase access "buttons," click on this link.

For the latest information on 'First Night Hartford,' click on this link.

For a list of other New Year's Eve events in Connecticut, click on this link.

New Year's history

In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is the dropping of the giant ball in New York City’s Times Square.

Other U.S. cities have their own versions of this celebration, such as the Peeps Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the Giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho.

The transition from one year to the next is often marked by the singing of “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish folk song whose title roughly translates to “days gone by,” according to Encyclopedia Britannica and History.com.

The tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates back 8,000 years to ancient Babylonians, who made promises to return borrowed items and repay debts at the beginning of the new year, which was in mid-March when they planted their crops.

• Related: What New Year’s Resolution Did You Keep? How Did You Do It? [Patch Survey]

According to legend, if people kept their word, the pagan gods would grant them favor in the coming year. However, if they broke their promises, they would lose favor with the gods.

Many secular New Year’s resolutions focus on imagining new, improved versions of ourselves.

The failure rate of New Year’s resolutions is about 80 percent, according to U.S. News & World Report. There are many reasons, but a big one is they’re made out of remorse — for gaining weight, for example — and aren’t accompanied by a shift in attitude or a plan for coping with the stress and discomfort that comes with changing a habit or condition.