How did New Year's Eve become such a party night?

I guess this is kind of a rant, but I’d be interested in other people’s thoughts about this.

When I was young—in my twenties—I used to love New Year’s Eve. It was the one time of the year when I got really wasted, and it seemed like anything could happen at a party (and sometimes it did happen).

I don’t mind using it as an excuse for a party. What I wonder about is the randomness of it all. We could choose any day of the year to be the new year day—there are so many different ones all over the world. I know the Chinese and Jewish new years are all different—maybe the Eastern Orthodox calendar is different, too.

It’s not so much why January first. Obviously the calendar makes that necessary. But we could have chosen to start counting in the spring or summer or fall, too. But it’s kind of why did we even come up with the idea that a new year should be celebrated? How did we get to the idea that it should be celebrated by getting wasted?

And what of those of us who don’t do that any more? We sit home, maybe watch a movie or a little TV, and we treat it like any other night. Maybe some, like me, remember their party days a bit wistfully. Or not so wistfully, if they never did like parties.

Still, it feels to me like there’s an expectation in the air—all this talk of resolutions and assessments of the past year and hopes for the new one. We could be doing this any day. Some of us do it every day.

Why is the new year so special? Why did we all agree to treat it like it is a time of assessment and resolution? Why do we act as if it matters?