Why is 'Auld Lang Syne' sung on new year eve and what does it mean?

When the clock strikes midnight and the calendar flips to 2023, people all over the world will be singing "Auld Lang Syne." But if you are having trouble remembering or comprehending the song's lyrics, you are not alone.

The song was written centuries ago and contains words that we would never use in the United States today.

It is unclear who wrote the music for the Scottish folk song, but Canadian bandleader Guy Lombardo was instrumental in making it a New Year's Eve tradition in the United States.


Scottish poet Robert Burns recorded the lyrics in a poem in 1788, though he noted that the song had already been in circulation for years before he put it in writing.

The song's popularity in North America is most likely due to Guy Lombardo, whose orchestra played it on his radio and television shows every New Year's Eve from 1929 to 1977.

Long before Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve became an end-of-the-year entertainment tradition, there was Lombardo's New Year's Eve concert.



In New York City, his New Year's Eve concerts, which began in 1929, became an institution, the Times magazine wrote in his obituary in 1977. Lombardo's rendition of Auld Lang Syne marked the nation's rite of passage from the old to the new year, first on radio, then on television.

The phrase "auld lang syne" directly translates from Scots language to modern English as "old long since," according to Dictionary.com. It can be interpreted as "old times, especially times fondly remembered" or an "old or long friendship.”

FAQs:

1. Why is January 1 observed as New Year's Day?
   Julius Caesar established January 1 as the first day of the year in 45 BCE, partly to honor the month's namesake, Janus, the Roman god of beginnings.
2. How much do Americans spend in the holiday season?
   Approximately, Americans spent a total of between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion this season in 2022.