New Year's Eve 2022 In, Around Coventry, Rhode Island

COVENTRY, RI — It is almost time to begin anew.

But first, we have to say "Goodbye" to 2022. Whether it is dancing and enjoying music, dinner and wine, or comedy events, or even all three, there is a lot of fun to be had on New Year's Eve in Rhode Island.

Here is a look at some events happening around Rhode Island:

• Night Lights –An Illuminating Experience! (Bristol)
• PLSIA New Year's Eve Pot Luck Party!! (Saunderstown)
• Ring Ring Ring in 2023 - Providence
• New Year's Eve Fireworks (Warwick)
• NYE Family Hike (Bristol)
• Vintage Hollywood New Year's Eve Ball (Cranston)
• New Year's Eve at the Conjuring House (Burrillville)
• Annual Family New Year's Eve Party (East Providence)
• Dueling Pianos New Years Eve- Early Show
• Annual New Year Kickoff Party (Newport)

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. Various cities have adopted their own iterations of the event — the Peach Drop in Atlanta, the Chick Drop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the giant Potato Drop in Boise, Idaho.

The end of one year and beginning of another is often celebrated with 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 history of New Year’s resolutions dates back 8,000 years to ancient Babylonians, who would make promises to return borrowed objects and pay outstanding debts at the beginning of the new year, in mid-March, when they planted their crops.

According to legend, if they kept their word, pagan gods would grant them favor in the coming year. If they broke the promise, they would fall out of God’s favor, according to a history of New Year’s resolutions compiled by North Hampton Community College New Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Many secular New Year’s resolutions focus on imagining 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 myriad 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 and a plan to meet the stress and discomfort of changing a habit or condition.

What are you planning on doing for New Year's Eve? Leave a note in the comment section below.