A Brief History of New Year's Day

[Rhonda]

A Brief History of New Year's Day

Published: 12/29/05

What day does the first of the year fall on? It wasn't always January 1st.


The ancient Babylonians, for example, celebrated the beginning of a new year on what is now March 23, although they didn't have a written calendar - no mean feat considering that this was long before the ubiquitous datebooks and wall calendars we can't live without.

Time passed, and with it came the development of the ancient Roman calendar, which was based on a lunar system. Better, but still not very accurate.


Then, in 46 B.C., Julius Caesar introduced a new, solar-based calendar (the Julian calendar). This was a vast improvement on the Roman calendar, which had become wildly inaccurate over the years. The Julian calendar decreed that the new year would occur on January 1st, and within the Roman world, this became the consistently observed start of the new year.

But then, in the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to officially fall on December 25, the birth of Jesus. This lasted for a while until it was changed to March 25, to coincide with a holiday called the Annunciation (remember, this is a "brief" history of New Year's Day).

Now we jump all the way to 1582. In that year, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar due to the ever-increasing discrepancy between calendar time and calculated astronomical time (Illuminati influence?). This new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated on Jan. 1st once again. Many countries, however, resisted the change (people were probably getting tired of not knowing when they were). In fact, some European countries held out for centuries (Scotland until 1660; Germany, Denmark, and Norway until 1700; and England until 1752).

And we come to today, when we heartily celebrate New Year's Day on January 1st - for the time being, at least.

The New Year's Resolution

The tradition of the New Year's Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar.

With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

Top 10 Most Common New Year Resolutions



Lose weight
Stop smoking
Stick to a budget
Save or earn more money
Find a better job
Become more organized
Exercise more
Be more patient at work/with others
Eat better
Become a better person