Here's Where To Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2022 In Howard County

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Whether you're into murder mysteries, running, fireworks or the likes, there's a variety of ways to ring in the New Year in Howard County. With the impending weather forecast, however, be sure and make sure these activities are still happening before leaving the house.

The New Year's Eve Fun Run/Walk starts New Year's Eve at 9 a.m. at Charm City Run Columbia. Be sure to pre-register for the event. A Night to Remember special event encourages partygoers to dance the night away to music spun by two DJs.

There's also a New Year's Eve M**der Mystery Party or celebrate New Year's Eve with the entire family at the Symphony of Lights with a final walk-through of the light display from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Fireworks are planned for 7 p.m.

In the United States, one of the most popular New Year’s Eve traditions is, of course, 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 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 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.