We always hear about the Roaring 20’s, but here is how a hundred-year-old magazine said that New Year’s Eve should be celebrated:
It is very natural to wish to drink to the health of one’s friends at the beginning of a new year, but fortunately the drunkenness and carousing that formerly marked New Year’s Eve have largely passed away and now we one another “Happy New Year” just as fervently as of old, though less boisterously.
Surely the beginning of a new year is a day peculiarly adapted for family celebrations. The color scheme most appropriate is that of the Christmas Season- the read and green of the holly, which brings good luck. The bell is often used as a symbol of the New Year. “Ring out the old – Ring in the new.”
American Cookery (December, 1922)
A Hundred Years Ago 
The drinking didn’t stop, it was just better hidden.
I’m sure you’re right that it was just better hidden. In some says I think that the magazine article was aspirational.
Oh yes, there were plenty of cheers about!
Somehow the magazine article seems to be missing the way things were actually playing out.
Happy New Year!
And, Happy New Year to you!
Happy New Year! I’ll raise a (small) glass to you!
🙂 Happy New Year!
Very interesting find in the American Cookery magazine, Sheryl. Thanks for this past year of fascinating recipe history.
I have a lot of fun pulling together the posts for this blog, and it’s nice to hear that you’ve enjoyed them, I’m often surprised by the range of topics covered in American Cookery magazine. I’ve also seen articles on time and money management, international topics, home and kitchen design, and many other things.
I think even the straight laced (if they had access) would “lift a glass” to toast in the New Year! My Great grandmother was a strict Methodist and abstained from alcohol. However one New Year she served the peaches she had canned that summer. Everyone (especially my grandfather) loved them – kept saying they were the best peaches she’d ever canned! Seems they had fermented and the men were eating the fruit and drinking the juice they’d been packed in! When she tasted them and discovered the truth, she dumped them all out! There was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth!
What a fun story! Thanks for sharing.