Father Time, Baby New Year have heralded passage of time over millennia

It’s always a delight to read about the first baby of the new year born in your city, state or region – a practice that has been tradition with local news sources until recent years. A symbol of a new year – and with it, hope, health, and prosperity – you might see babies clad in a diaper, top hat, and sash representing a new year in media or antique collectibles, usually accompanied by an old man known as Father Time, who symbolizes the end of the previous year with the passage of time.

Depictions of Baby New Year and Father Time have existed since long before the antique collectibles on which they appear. Like many of our modern-day traditions, they began in the ancient world; back then, however, they weren’t yet linked to the beginning of a new year but to the changing of the seasons instead. In ancient Greece, the baby symbolized the end of winter, the start of the springtime harvest season, and the resurrection of Dionysus, Greek god of wine, vegetation, and fertility, according to a 2024 article by Elizabeth Yuko on readersdigest.com.

Out with the old, in with the new

Yuko writes that the elderly, white-bearded image of Father Time is most likely drawn from Chronos, the Greek god of time, or the Roman god Saturn. Like Father Time, each was often depicted carrying a scythe, like the Grim Reaper. But (Prof. Daniel Compora of the University of Toledo) says that Father Time may have also been inspired by the two-faced Roman God Janus, who represented beginnings and endings, as well as life and death.” In many renderings, Father Time wields a scythe, itself a symbol of “the endurance of time, which eventually will ‘cut down’ all living things. In some of these renderings, too, he hands over an hourglass (and thus, his duties and responsibilities) to Baby New Year.

The image of these two characters came to the U.S. during the Victorian Era by German immigrants. Innovations in printing during the Industrial Revolution allowed for those images to be spread quickly and to a much wider audience.

“The image and concept of Baby New Year became more widespread in both Europe and the United States during the Victorian era, thanks to the massive popularity of greeting cards and postcards,” Yuko writes. “Advancements in printing technology meant that colorful illustrations could be mass-produced. In addition to Christmas cards, people sent cards to wish others luck in the new year — many of which were adorned with pictures of Baby New Year, sometimes alongside Father Time.”