Auld Lange Syne will carry the weight of New Year's reflections on 2021, but offer hope for what 2022 holds

Two years ago, as a new decade began, I reflected on the role of Auld Lange Syne, the centuries-old Scottish song with the meaning of “days gone by,” in marking the crossroads of memories that each New Year represents. That New Year carried the weight of the memories of 10 years then passed and the hope of a decade as yet unborn.
 
Rod StewartThen last year, I posted an Auld Lange Syne New Year’s Eve column to ponder the question of whether we forget “auld” times, the 2020 year we were leaving, and try never to think of them again, as the song suggests. Or whether it was important to remember 2020 with its pain as a lesson we should carry into a new year and beyond.
 
Now we welcome 2022 with the thought that it’s a pause and reflection that may never be more important to us as COVID brings pain in new forms, with political divisions growing and the social awakening about race bringing new challenges.
 
Thus the strains of Auld Lange Syne and the reflections stirred by the meaning of the words composed 230 years ago by Scotsman Robert Burns may never be more compelling than this New Year’s Eve.
 
And perhaps there’s an important human aspect to the ability to pause to reflect that the link for all the years of memories are the words and music of a song that many who listen to it and sing it on New Year's Eve aren't even sure of the words. But those who sing it share the important awareness that it’s a song of human bonding.
 
In fact, a study conducted three years ago by a British supermarket chain turned up the fact that while a third of the people polled plan to sing the song in the last moments of the year, only 3 percent of them knew the words.
 
The translation of the phrase auld lange syne is "old long since," but the meaning is "days gone by," or "long, long ago."
 
Sissel KyrkjeboThe song is interpreted to raise the question of whether it's right to forget old times and never think of them again. It's the perfect song for New Year's Eve as we move into a new year and try to decide if we will look back at moments from the past year or forget them and move forward.
 
In Scotland, people traditionally stand in a circle holding hands just before midnight. At the start of the final verse, which says, "And there's a hand, my trusty friend!,"everyone crosses their arms across their bodies so that their left hand is holding the hand of the person on their right and vice versa