新年宝宝，永远滴神

新年宝宝是新年伊始的化身，象征着从旧日迈入新年的“重生”。 该形象一般是一个穿着尿布、戴着礼帽、身挂肩带的男婴(肩带有时会显示他所代表的年份)， 新年宝宝常与另一个神话人物“时光之父”搭配在一起，他手持镰刀和沙漏，象征着流逝的时光。

Baby New Year is a popular personification of the start of the new year, symbolizing the "rebirth" of the past year into the next. Usually a male infant wearing nothing else than a diaper, a top hat and a sash (which sometimes shows the year he is representing), Baby New Year is often paired with another mythical figure called "Father Time" — an elderly man carrying a scythe and hourglass who's depicted as the personification of passing time.

据说，新年宝宝将随着时间长大，并最终在十二月末变为时光之父，届时他将把记录时间的职责移交给下一位在1月1日出生的新年宝宝，并向他传授长者之智。

As the story goes, Baby New Year will age and eventually grow into Father Time by the end of the year in December, at which time he will then turn over his timekeeping duties — and impart his aged wisdom — to the next Baby New Year born on January 1.

根据History网的资料，将婴儿视作新年象征的习俗可以追溯到公元前600年的古希腊。为了庆祝丰产之神与酒神狄俄尼索斯的重生，每年新年，希腊人会拥簇着篮子里的婴儿在全镇游行并以此代表神的诞生。后来早期的基督徒也开始使用婴儿形象来庆贺新年，该形象通常在宗教上代表婴儿时期的耶稣。

According to History.com, the use of a baby as a representation of the new year actually has its roots as far back as 600 B.C. in ancient Greece. In celebrating the annual rebirth of Dionysus — the god of wine and fertility — with each new year, the Greeks had a tradition of parading around an infant in a basket throughout town to represent the god's birth. Early Christians then also began using the image of a baby to celebrate the new year, with the infant often depicting the religious figure of Baby Jesus.

19世纪，在报纸漫画家的笔下，新年宝宝的形象逐渐世俗化，其中最引人注目的是约瑟夫·克里斯蒂安·莱恩德克尔在1907年至1943年间为《周六晚报》设计的一系列封面。这些封面在每年的初刊上刊载不同的婴儿形象，通常每个婴儿代表着那一年的精神风貌。

Baby New Year then became secularized by newspaper cartoonists in the 19th century, most notably with a series of covers in the The Saturday Evening Post by Joseph Christian Leyendecker from 1907 to 1943. These covers featured a different drawing of a baby on every annual first-of-the-year issue, with each character often representing the spirit of that specific year.

新年宝宝的形象曾数次出现在现代的流行文化之中。值得关注的是，该形象曾出现在1976年的节日特辑《鲁道夫的闪亮新年》中，这部动画片记录了红鼻子驯鹿鲁道夫的冒险故事，时间之父招募它来帮助寻找失踪的新年宝宝。

Baby New Year has appeared in countless instances of modern pop culture throughout the years. Most notably, the infant was featured in the 1976 holiday special Rudolph's Shiny New Year, an animation that chronicles the adventures of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as he's enlisted by Father Time to help find the missing Baby New Year

多年来，新年宝宝形象也出现在许多新年活动和庆典中。在威利·纳尔逊参加的奥斯汀新年前夜音乐会中，“新年宝宝”和“德州时光之父”作为新的节日元素出现。午夜时分，披散头发、身穿长袍、头戴黄玫瑰花冠的时光之父闪亮登场，他坐在德克萨斯主题马车里，把沙漏递给身着白色燕尾服、头戴礼帽的新年宝宝。

The character has also made appearances in many New Year's events and celebrations over the years. Willie Nelson’s annual New Year’s Eve concerts in Austin feature cameos by Baby New Year and Father Texas Time. At midnight, a dreadlocked Father Time makes a grand entrance, wearing a long robe and a crown of yellow roses. He gets lowered to the stage in a Texas-themed carriage and hands over a prop hourglass to Baby New Year, a youngster in a white tux and top hat.

另一个例子体现在新奥尔良的新年前夜庆祝活动上。在过去的16年里，为了庆祝这个节日，人们把一个巨型的纸质婴儿模型放置在杰克逊广场的屋顶上，并让它随着他们挚爱的鸢尾花标志一同下降，这也是新奥尔良版本的“时代广场新年降球”。

Other appearances include the New Year's Eve celebrations in New Orleans, where for 16 years the city celebrated the holiday with a giant paper mache baby placed on top of a roof in Jackson Square to be dropped along with their beloved fleur-de-lis symbol — their own unique version of the Times Square's ball drop.