New Year's Eve 2022: Where To Find Events Around Vienna

VIENNA, VA — Jammin Java performances and other events around Vienna are planned to help residents welcome the new year.

In Vienna, Jammin Java will host two events. One is the kid-friendly Rocknoceros New Year's Eve Ball at 11 a.m. on Dec. 31. Rocknoceros has a tradition for 15 years to perform at Jammin Java for New Year's Eve. Bring the kids and count down to noon for those who expect to turn in early before midnight. An apple juice toast is included.

The other event is the New Year’s Eve Bash MMXXIII w/ Milo in the Doldrums at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 31. Four local bands will perform to entertain you in the final hours of 2022. The event has a food drive benefiting Food For Others. Any guest who brings two canned goods will get $2 off their ticket.

If you need a ride, Metro will be fare free after 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve to closing. Metro has extended hours to 2 a.m. on Jan. 1. The SoberRide program also runs through New Year's Eve, providing free Lyft rides up to $15 to keep intoxicated drivers off local roads.

Here is a look at some additional events happening near Vienna:

• New Years Eve Party at Greenhouse Bistro
• Noon Year's Eve at Shipgarten
• Watch Night Falls Church
• The Legwarmers New Year's Eve Dance Party at State Theatre
• New Year's Masquerade Party
• A New Year's Eve Maggiano's Murder Mystery Dinner Event
• Grandiose New Year's Eve Gala
• Black Tie Masquerade

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.