Hi everyone, Happy New Year! New Year’s Eve/Day is a holiday that is celebrated all over the world with many different customs and traditions.
New Year’s Day is actually the world’s oldest holiday! It was first celebrated by the Babylonians on 23rd of March, 2000 BC. They choose March as the beginning of the New Year because it coincided with the beginning of spring and the planting of new crops.
This tradition was also carried on by the Ancient Romans in the years that followed, but eventually the date was changed to 1st of January. This change happened because of the development of the Julian calendar, by the emperor Julius Caesar. According to this calendar, every New Year began on the 1st of January.
January was placed at the beginning of the yearly calendar because it was named for the mythical god, Janus. Janus was the two-faced god; one face looked forward into the future, and the other looked back to the past. Therefore, Janus was the natural god to oversee the New Year.