New Year’s Eve 2023 In Woodbridge: Skate Night, 5 Course Dinner

WOODBRIDGE, VA — Local churches, bars, and pools in the Woodbridge area are planning events on New Year's Eve to welcome 2024.

Here are a few of the events planned for the Prince William County area on Dec. 31:

• New Year's Eve Dinner
  • Bistro L'Hermitage
  • Seating begins at 4 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Splashin' New Year's Eve
  • PWCS Aquatics Center
  • Starts at 2 p.m.
• Brew Year's Eve
  • Brew Republic Bierwerks
  • Starts at 8 p.m.
• Hot Buttered Elvis's 25th Anniversary Show
  • The Harbour Grille
  • Starts at 7 p.m.
• New Year's Eve Bash with the Chocolate Factory Band
  • Electric Palm Restaurant
  • Starts at 8 p.m.
• Skate N Fun Zone New Year's Eve Skate
  • Skate N Fun Zone
  • Starts at 12 p.m.

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.