Few things are more powerful than hope and promise. The hope for a better life and the promise of the future. That’s why one of the largest global celebrations is New Year’s Eve. It’s the hallmark of time, the last day of the year in the Gregorian calendar.

When one year ends and a new one begins, we celebrate both the old and new.  As the old year meets its demise, we lay the worst of events aside, taking only the best with us and leaving any sadness or disappointments behind.  A fresh new year is ahead!

We have that yearly cleansing and new beginning every 12 months on Earth.  We are so blessed to have a single day to refresh our soul, make new goals and attempt new feats.

But do aliens have a single day that is their day of renewal?  Do our earth years mean anything to them?  What is their calendar of time?  Is their calendar and time vastly different from ours?  Perhaps, but I can’t imagine they don’t have a specific date to celebrate and renew.

For answers, we must look at the Mayan Calendar.  The Mayans are known to have created several complicated systems of recording time.  They created a solar calendar, a lunar calendar, a calendar for Venus, and even a 9-day cycle calendar.  One of their most important calendars was the Haab calendar, that told them when to plant and when to harvest.  It, like today’s calendar, had 365 days and a leap year.

There is a very different calendar that began in August and is a 360-day calendar, which is five days short of the Sun.  It is referred to as the long-count calendar, which Mayan history attributes to 13 gods who descended from the heavens in the year 3114 BC, to teach them this calendar, as well as mathematics, astronomy and agriculture.

We are compelled to assume that the gods who descended from the sky were aliens who taught them their calendar, since this long-count calendar did not have anything to do with our planets or sun.

This means aliens have a calendar to mark the end of one year and the beginning of a new.  Calendars tell us when to do many things, give us a way to chart our history, note when it happened, and most importantly, give us a reminder to celebrate notable events.

Does this give us proof that aliens celebrate a new year of any sort?  I believe so.  After all, why would they actually descend from the heavens at the beginning of their calendar, August?  I would think that, in itself, is the celebration of a new year by teaching others.

Happy New Year to you and your families, space alien or earthlings!  This is the beginning of a fresh adventure.  Let us all make the most of it!