The Fascinating History Behind Celebrating New Year on January 1

It’s interesting that the world brings in a new year, remembering how this custom began. As a matter of fact, throughout centuries, a culture and even calendars have molded this tradition from ancient times to date. A great majority celebrate New Year’s on January 1, but what made January 1 popular around the globe? Here is the story about it.

The oldest recorded New Year celebration was held 2000 B.C. in the ancient kingdom of Mesopotamia, now known as modern Iraq. The festival was called Akitu and fell on the first new moon during the spring equinox, normally around March. It lasted for 12 days and served to crown new kings or reconfirm loyalty to already incumbent kings. It also occurred at the barley harvest time, so it was tied to agricultural cycles.

Throughout history, different civilizations aligned their New Year celebrations with significant events, often based on religious, astronomical, or agricultural factors. In ancient Egypt, the new year began with the heliacal rising of Sirius, the brightest star, around mid-July. This celestial event marked the start of the Nile’s flooding, a crucial agricultural occurrence. The Egyptians celebrated for five days before beginning the first month of their 12-month calendar.

The Chinese have been celebrating New Year since 3,500 years ago with the date commencing with the second new moon after the winter solstice that falls within the period between late January and February. The same date marks the coming of spring.

Emergence of the Islamic Calendar

Pre-Islamic Arabia had no standard calendar, but in 638 A.D., the second Islamic caliph, Umar I, set up the lunar Islamic calendar. The Islamic New Year starts on 1 Muharram, which marks the first crescent moon. The Islamic calendar is 354 or 355 days long, and Year 1446 is going to start on July 7 or 8, 2024, depending on the region.

Evolution of the Roman Calendar

The new year in ancient Rome started in March, covering a 10-month period without formal winter months. In the 7th century B.C., King Numa Pompilius added two months, namely January (Ianuarius) and February (Februarius), to create a 12-month year. By 153 B.C., the Roman consuls’ inauguration shifted to January, although inconsistencies persisted.

Julius Caesar’s Calendar Reform

Julius Caesar, helped by astronomer Sosigenes, reformulated the Roman calendar in 46 B.C. into what is known today as the Julian calendar. This calendar made January 1st the beginning of the civil year and included provisions for leap years to make up for the quarter day added onto the solar year. Its measurement of the solar year was also incorrect by 11 minutes; over the course of the centuries, this created a drift in time.

The Gregorian calendar and global standardization

The Julian calendar had already drifted 10 days by the 15th century away from the true solar cycle. To rectify this, Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar in the 1570s with rules for leap years and declaring January 1 the first day of the year.Most European countries adopted the Gregorian calendar very quickly, but Great Britain and its colonies were not aligned until 1752, when Parliament adopted the new system.

The Gregorian calendar is the global civil standard, which has become even more dominant even in cultures where lunar or Islamic calendars dominate, unifying governments and businesses around the world.