Ring in the New Year - The meaning behind the saying

Ever wonder why we 'ring out the old' and 'ring in the new'?

It was a custom in England, and many places around the world, to ring Church bells at midnight on New Years as a way of "ring out" the old year. Celebrating its passing, in the same way as they would ring the bells for a person that had died. And to "ring in" the new year joyfully.

In 1850 Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote the poem "Ring Out, Wild Bells" about this tradition. A poem with such depth, hope, renewal and challenge it is no wonder it has made a mark on history.  It is from the bells and this poem that we derive the saying "Ringing in the new year".

"Ring Out, Wild Bells"

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

It is believed the bells of Waltham Abbey, (pictured above) are the bells in this poem. 

Happy New Year!

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