New Year’s Eve is the night of Holy Sylvester, the Pope who converted the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity.
With the Emperor’s conversion, pagan gods fell from favor but fought back through the souls of the living.
To combat their return, during the darkness of New Year’s Eve, people wandered the streets shouting to strangers, frolicking with noisemakers, and generally acting foolish, a custom that resurfaces every New Year’s Eve.
Pope Sylvester I (314-335 AD) cured the Emperor Constantine of leprosy.
Some New Year’s Eve revellers disguised themselves as mummers so that the demoted gods couldn’t identify and punish them as they wandered the streets.
