The Baby New Year is a

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...

of the start of the

New Year New Year is the time or day currently at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system ...

commonly seen in

editorial cartoons A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...

. He symbolizes the "birth" of the next year and the "passing" of the prior year; in other words, a "rebirth". Baby New Year's purpose varies by myth, but he generally performs some sort of ceremonial duty over the course of his year such as chronicling the year's events or presiding over the year as a

symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...

History

Early known instances of having babies as parts of new years traditions date back to ancient greece. Modern use was popularized at the beginning of the 20th century.

Legend

The myth most associated with him is that he is a baby at the beginning of his year, but Baby New Year quickly ages until he is elderly (like

Father Time Father Time is a personification of time. In recent centuries he is usually depicted as an elderly bearded man, sometimes with wings, dressed in a robe and carrying a scythe and an hourglass or other timekeeping device. As an image, "Father Ti ...

, with whom he is often associated) at the end of his year. Very rarely is the Baby New Year depicted as any age other than a baby or as a very old man. Some stories, especially those with depictions of years past, will have him bear a strong likeness to key events in his time.

Rudolph's Shiny New Year ''Rudolph's Shiny New Year'' is a 1976 American-Japanese Christmas and holiday season, Christmas and New Year's stop motion animation, animated television special and a standalone sequel to the 1964 special ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV s ...

; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073640/ At this point, he hands over his duties to the next Baby New Year, while he either dies or remains in this state and retires.

Representation

The

stereotypical In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

representation of Baby New Year is as a baby boy wearing nothing more than a

diaper A diaper /ˈdaɪpə(r)/ (American and Canadian English) or a nappy (Australian English, British English, and Hiberno-English) is a type of underwear that allows the wearer to urinate or defecate without using a toilet, by absorbing or cont ...

, a

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditional ...

and a

sash A sash is a large and usually colorful ribbon or band of material worn around the body, either draping from one shoulder to the opposing hip and back up, or else running around the waist. The sash around the waist may be worn in daily attire, bu ...

across his torso that shows the year he is representing (e.g. ). He is sometimes depicted holding or associated with an

hourglass An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...

, a

noisemaker A noisemaker is something intended to make a loud noise, usually for fun. Instruments or devices commonly considered "noisemakers" include: * pea whistles * air horns, composed of a pressurized air source coupled to a horn, designed to create an ...

, or other item either pertaining to time or New Year's Day festivities. Often, he is not a complete

newborn An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

but instead more closely resembles a

toddler A toddler is a child approximately 12 to 36 months old, though definitions vary. The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development. The word is derived from "to toddle", which means to walk unsteadily, like a child ...

, because he is frequently shown standing on his own, crawling or barely walking, or having a small amount of (usually blond) hair.

Baby New Year title

In addition to being a mythical figure, the title of "Baby New Year" is sometimes given to living people. The first baby born in any village or city in a certain year may be honored by being labeled as the official Baby New Year for that year. The official Baby New Year can be male or female, even though the mythical Baby New Year is nearly always male. Attempts to name an official Baby New Year for an entire country have sometimes been made, but generally there are multiple contenders and no single Baby New Year can be confirmed. There has however been some who have come close. Numerous hospitals no longer make a Baby New Year public due to concerns that the infant will become a target for criminals.First baby of 2015? It's a secret in many places
. ''Associated Press''. Retrieved December 31, 2014.

Popular culture

* Baby New Year is featured in the TV special ''

''. The featured Baby New Year, named Happy, goes missing before New Year's Eve, and Rudolph has to travel to the Archipelago of Last Years (a bunch of islands where the old years go to retire) to find him before a

vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

named Aeon the Terrible gets to him in order to keep the year from ending and stop time, thus preventing his predestined death. Happy ran away due to being laughed at because of his big ears, which he wears under his top hat. Rudolph shows Happy his nose and tells him his own story of being shunned because of his nonconformity before asking Happy to let him see his ears. After Happy's ears play a part in defeating Aeon the Terrible, Happy is returned to Father Time as the year "Nineteen-Wonderful" begins. * A parody of Baby New Year, given the name "Big Fat Baby," appears in the animated series ''

Histeria! ''Histeria!'' is an American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, ''Histeria!'' was an explicitly educational program created to ...

'' * A version of Baby New Year named "Happy New Year" appears alongside Father Time in the episode "The Halls of Time" of the animated series '' The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy''

References

{{Commons category, Baby New Year New Year celebrations Holiday characters