Mythology of Midnight

Create a mythos for New Years Eve including symbols and traditions

The Story of Old Man Time

Long, long ago, when everything was just beginning, the universe was a very different place. There was space then, and stars, and planets with their mountains and seas, birds and trees. There were even a few people. But there was no time. No seconds, minutes, months, or years. No holidays, vacations, birthdays, or bicentennials. It was an absolute disaster.

The planets could not rotate and so there were no seasons. Some places were always cold, while others were always hot. Night and day were frozen too. Caterpillars stayed caterpillars, tad-poles stayed tad-poles, and small children stayed petulant and annoying forever. Clocks and pocket-watches were utterly useless, as the hands had no seconds or hours to tick away. People would have been constantly early or late for appointments, but even that was difficult because earliness and lateness did not exist. Even the past and future were impossible, which lent an uncomfortable air of immediacy to everything. It was a dire state of being, and it bred serious people, always uptight and focused on urgency and exactness. One such individual was Old Man Time.

Even then he was quite old, a crooked man with withered arms and a wrinkled scowl. Every busy, he spent his days tinkering and puttering away in his workshop. It was in this way that, late one never-ending night, he came across a most miraculous discovery.

While dismantling a stopwatch, Old Man Time stumbled across the smallest sliver on an instant. With a pair of needle-nose pliers he pried it free. After studying it in great detail with a magnifying glass he constructed a rough copy out of materials lying about his workbench. To his great surprise the two instants folded together to create a moment. Old Man Time busied himself creating more instants and, after a bit of work, arranged them into the fundamental building block of all time: the second.

The minute, hour, and even the day arrived not long after. People all over the earth marveled at the ingenuity of Old Man Time’s creation. They were finally able to take the time to relax and refresh. Plans were being made and appointments were being missed. Butterflies were everywhere for a while, and the first teenagers begin to appear, though sullen and sarcastic. Eventually there was an outcry amongst the populace for more ingenuities of time, and they received the week and, after a long wait, the month. Life and progress began in earnest around the earth.

But all was not perfect in the world. A great many creatures that had previously remained frozen began to stir and slink and creep. Gremlins, goblins, bogies, kobolds, monsters, and other mischief-makers began to cause havoc around the world. Worst of all were the Time Imps.

They came in a variety of shapes and sizes, with claws, talons, fangs, tentacles and beady little eyes. While Old Man Time arranged time carefully and orderly, giving each minute the same amount of seconds and each hour the same amount of minutes, Time Imps would steal moments willy-nilly, sticking them back where they didn’t belong. Time might slow down during an already long lecture, or it might move twice as fast in the morning before the bus arrived.

On top of it all, the constant requests for weeks and months were beginning to take their toll on Old Man Time. He could barely make enough seconds to keep up with the demand, let alone manage to offset the destruction the Time Imps were causing. Thus, Old Man Time made up his mind to move his workshop to a more secluded location. After fashioning enough hours to cover his trip, he began to dig a tunnel deep down into the earth. Though it wasn’t long before the Time Imps, missing their stolen seconds, followed him.

As everyone knows, the earth is made up of several layers. If one were to dig down into the earth’s crust now, they would discover the following:

1) The Mantle

2) The Outer Core

3) The Inner Core

4) The Realm of the Time Imps

5) The House of Old Man Time

Old Man Time build his house as far away from everything as he could, at the very center of the earth. Although, even there the Time Imps found him, surrounding his yard and pestering him with a yowling, shrieking racket. But in his basement, wearing earplugs and two sets of earmuffs, Old Man Time finally found the time to work on his final invention. After weeks and months of delicate calibrations he finally perfected what no one else had dared to dream of: The Year.

Twelve full months all packaged together, including four distinct seasons. What’s more, it was designed to be fully recyclable, packaged in the finest of hourglasses. At the end of each full year, Old Man Time needs only to flip it over, and let the seconds begin to fall again.

And so, after a great deal of time and bother, Old Man Time retired to his bed to sleep away the ages, enjoying the results of his effort. Unfortunately, this is where we come in. For all the gifts he has given us, the old man has a tendency to sleep deeply and for too long. And as he is deep down at the center of earth, wearing earplugs and two earmuffs, surrounded my miles of yowling Time Imps, it can be difficult to wake him. This is why each December 31^st we stay up late into the night, yelling, banging pots, and twirling noisemakers. If we make enough of a ruckus we can wake him. Then he’ll mutter, climb out of bed, stumble over to his workbench, and turn the hourglass for another year.

And if the worst should happen, If Old Man Time turns over in his bed and we never get another second, remember to kiss a loved one at midnight, as it might be your last chance.