Asking for it at every new year

If I lived in a small peasant village thousands of years ago where it was customary to dance naked in the fields on New Year’s Eve to ensure a good growing season, I would be the first to drop his fur britches and start cavorting through the stubble corn.

Which is to say I like ritual. I like the statues of the saints in church. I like Christmas trees and the Rosary. I like an omelet every Sunday morning. I’d have been a good 12th-century monk.

Every New Year’s Eve, my wife and I attend a party in a local saloon. There’s a buffet and music. It’s a small bar, and the owner limits attendance to...