I find no purpose in going to church Old Year’s Night anymore—at least for the past two years. The custom of attending church on the eve of the New Year is fairly a new one and is only popular in this part of the world including the Caribbean. Also, only Christianity permits services to be held during this night. There are no services in the Hindu and Muslim religions.

I attend church no more on Old Year’s Night because Old Year’s was never made a religious occasion in the first place. Also, many persons attend church under false pretences during this night. While there are many sincere believers, there are many more that use this night by attending church for all the wrong purposes and reasons. Take the last day of the last millennium (31-12-99) when all the churches were packed. Everyone was all hyped and scared about the Y2K Millennium bug and things of that sort. Nothing ever happened. Today, the churches are still packed, with mostly ‘strange’ attendees who do not really go to church during the year, but for some reason or another, see it fit to attend church on this night, maybe to ‘bribe’ the good Lord into giving them a good year.

Don’t get me wrong; there are very sincere people who attend church on Old Year’s Night to praise and thank God for His blessings in the year past. They also want to spend the first minutes and seconds of the New Year with the Lord. And that is good.

But my problem lies in the hypocrisy that some peddle on this night.

My view is that services in churches should be stopped on Old Year’s Night. Let people remain home and give thanks and spend time with their families on this night.

In the Catholic tradition, there are mid-night Masses that are said. Hundreds of people do attend these Masses on Old Year’s Night in all the Catholic churches of the world, even here in Guyana. In Georgetown, Brickdam Cathedral is jam-packed; in New Amsterdam, Church of Ascension, too, is jam-packed. Little do they know that the liturgy and Mass is really in honour of Our Lady because it is a Vigil Mass for the feast that is usually celebrated the following day in the Catholic calendar “the Solemnity of Mary – Mother of God”. All the prayers will also reflect this honour. Even the priest’s homily will do that. And it will have very little, if anything to do with ending a year and beginning a new one. So, all who are attending Catholic Masses on Old Year’s Night is really attending a Vigil Mass for a feast attributed to Mary and it should not be called an “Old Year’s Night Service” because it simply isn’t. The fact that most attendees of these Masses are ‘outsiders’ is also a cause for concern since many will approach the altar—unprepared to receive Holy Communion.

So, I will be staying home on future Old Year’s Nights just to make space and leave space for those who did not attend church all year ‘round but want to squeeze the Lord in during those last moments of the day and year.

Imagine, even Old Year’s Night has been secularised and commercialised.

A Blessed New Year to all.
LEON JAMESON SUSERAN