1st January: NEW YEAR’S DAY

Nearly the entire world recognizes New Year’s Day on January 1st. It’s also one of the most celebrated holidays of the year.

Celebrations will begin in the Pacific Ocean with Samoa celebrating the New Year before the rest of the world. The latest stroke of midnight will occur in the middle of the Pacific Ocean near Baker Island, which is halfway between Hawaii and Australia.

New Year’s Day marks the start of a new year according to the Gregorian calendar. It is a relatively modern practice. Although Romans began marking the start of their civil year on January 1 in their calendar (prior to the Gregorian calendar), the traditional springtime opening of the growing season and time for major military campaigns still held on as the popular New Year celebration.

Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in 1582. It was adopted immediately in some areas of Europe but it was not used in various countries until even centuries later. For example, the United Kingdom and the United States started observing the Gregorian calendar in 1752, in which 11 days were dropped.

It is important to note that not all cultures follow the Gregorian calendar in observing New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. For example the New Year in the Hindu, Chinese, Coptic, Jewish, Islamic calendars differ to that of the Gregorian calendar.

The new year has been celebrated for millennia. The earliest record of new year’s celebrations occurred during Babylonian times. However, January 1st wasn’t always the designated day. For example, the first new moon after the vernal equinox ushered in the new year at one time. These festivities occurred in Martius (March), the first month in the early Roman calendar, which only had ten months.