Where to go on New Year's Eve

"Despite hundreds of years of pathetic parties, ridiculous resolutions and hellacious hangovers, we still cling to the notion that it is possible to have fun going out on New Year's Eve. It isn't. There is too much pressure, too many people and too few bathrooms."

-- Anderson Cooper

However you may feel about New Year's Eve, it has been celebrated in one form or another for 4,000 years, making it, quite probably, the oldest holiday in the world. The earliest recorded party took place in Mesopotamia around 2,000 B.C. in mid March at the time of the vernal equinox and featured copious quantities of barley ale, grilled goat and roasted locusts.

The first time the New Year was celebrated on Jan. 1 was in Rome in 153 B.C. The Romans, whose reputation for great parties is legendary, consumed ostrich ragout, fattened dormice and the pièce de resistance, a wild sow with its belly full of live thrushes, washed down with golden goblets of honeyed wine.

In medieval Europe, the celebrations accompanying the New Year were considered pagan and, in 1567, the Council of Tours abolished Jan. 1 as the beginning of the year. It was then celebrated on various dates, including Christmas, Easter and March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation. Finally, in 1582, the reform of the Gregorian calendar restored Jan. 1 as New Year's Day. Most Catholic countries adopted this calendar almost immediately, but Protestant countries were slower to come around. The British and their American colonies waited until 1752.

The tradition of making New Year's resolutions dates back to early Babylonia. Nowadays, the most common resolutions include losing weight and quitting smoking, but in ancient Babylonia the most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment. Another tradition was begun in Greece about 600 B.C.: They paraded a baby in a basket to celebrate the annual rebirth of Dionysius, the god of wine and fertility, not dissimilar to what happens today.

Food is a symbolic part of New Year's rituals worldwide, thought to bring good luck and prosperity. The Dutch eat doughnuts because they imply coming full circle. In the southern U.S., it is believed that eating black-eyed peas is lucky, and greens -- such as cabbage, collards, spinach and kale -- will bring greenbacks in the coming year. Rounding out this fortuitous and tasty meal is the hog, and thus its meat, symbolizing prosperity.