Monday, 01. January 2007
Happy New Year

Here are a variety of facts and anecdotes about New Year's celebrations:

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Ancient New Year's

The celebration of the new year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4,000 years ago. In the years around 2000 B.C., the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).

The Babylonian celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is safe to say that modern New Year's Eve festivities pale in comparison.

The Romans continued to observe the new year in late March, but their calendar was continually tampered with by various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.

In order to set the calendar right, the Roman senate, in 153 B.C., declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year. But tampering continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 B.C., established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar.


It again established January 1 as the new year. But in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days.

Church view of new year celebrations

Although in the first centuries A.D. the Romans continued celebrating the new year, the early Catholic Church condemned the festivities as paganism. But as Christianity became more widespread, the early church began having its own religious observances concurrently with many of the pagan celebrations, and New Year's Day was no different.

During the Middle Ages, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Year's. January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.

New Year's traditions

Other traditions of the season include the making of New Year's resolutions. That tradition also dates back to the early Babylonians.

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Category: Articles & Essays | Time & Calendar |


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