Where To Celebrate New Year’s Eve 2022 In Fredericksburg

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — Christmastime is over in Fredericksburg. In less than a week, people in our area will celebrate the start of a new year.

In Fredericksburg, there are several events to suit every type of partygoer. Whether you prefer a night at the arcade, a night with music and dancing, or a black tie gala, there's something for everyone in the Fredericksburg area.

Here is a look at some additional events happening in Fredericksburg:

• Reclaim Arcade's 2nd Annual New Year's Eve Bash
  • Begins at 9 p.m. on New Year's Eve
• New Year's Eve Black & Gold Gala hosted by Themes LLC
  • Begins at 9 p.m. on New Year's Eve
• New Year's Eve Gala at the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts
  • Dinner service begins at 5 p.m. on New Year's Eve
• New Year's Eve — The Return of the Nugget Bash at Game Garrison VA
  • Begins at 6 p.m.
  • Here's a rundown on the Nugget Bash, according to the event website: "If you're new and haven't experienced this event. We start accepting in store donations toward the purchase of as many chicken nuggets as we can get. 100% of the donations go towards nuggets and sauces for all of our patrons in store. On New Year's Eve, we do not have a closing time."

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.