New Year's Day
New Year's Day is celebrated on 1st January in most of the countries around the world, as most countries follow the Gregorian calendar. However, in some countries like China, New Year's Day, or the first day of the New Year, is celebrated according to their own calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar. However, most of the countries in the world today observe the New Year's Day on January 1 every year.
This day is believed to have a Romanian origin. Janus, the God of beginnings after whom the month January was named, was the one to whom the day was dedicated. Janus had two faces- one at the front and the other at the back. Thus, the tradition of celebrating New Year's Day came to be associated with paganism.
In some cultures, New Year's Day coincided with the Annunciation of Jesus. However, the tradition was condemned by various religious leaders. It is believed that the current tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year's Day originated in the 7th century when people of Netherlands and Flanders celebrated the day. Most of the Western world adopted January 1 as the New Year's Day, also called the Circumcision Day, even before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. The Circumcision Day is associated with Jesus Christ.
Different countries celebrate the New Year's Day differently, but almost all the celebrations start from December 31st itself, beckoning the New Year with a fervent countdown. In countries like the US, Australia, Malaysia and other European and Western cultures, people congregate at a place to watch fireworks as the New Year's Day descends.
In many parts of the world, music concerts are arranged to celebrate the going of the old year and the beginning of the New Year. In countries like the UK and Netherlands, people often run into water, also known as Polar Bear Plunges, to celebrate New Year's Day. Certain parts of the world have specific traditions associated with the day. For example, in Scotland, the street party on this day is very famous. In Switzerland, there is the tradition of organizing the finals of Spengler Cup Ice Hockey Tournament on New Year's Day.
The eve of the day sees people reveling in music, enjoying liquor and food and dancing till the wee hours of the morning. Radio shows and TV shows are organized specifically to remember the year gone by and to beckon the New Year.
History
Mesopotamia (Iraq) instituted the concept of celebrating the New Year 2000 BC. The Romans dedicated New Year's Day to Janus, the pagan god of gates, doors, and beginnings, for whom the first month of the year, January, is also named. The pagan deity Janus was depicted as having two faces: one looking forward and the other backward, suggesting that celebrations of the New Year are pagan traditions. Some suggested this occurred in 153 BC, when it was stipulated that the two annual consuls, after whose names the Romans identified the years, acceded to office on that day, though there is no consensus on the question. After Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 46 BC as the Julian calendar and was subsequently murdered, the Roman Senate voted to deify him on 1 January 42 BC, in honor of his life and his institution of the new rationalized calendar. Dates in March, coinciding with the March Equinox, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of Jesus Christ, or other Christian feasts were used throughout the Middle Ages as the first day of the new year, although their calendars nonetheless often continued to display the months in columns running from January to December.
Among the 7th century pagans of Flanders and the Netherlands, it was the custom to exchange gifts on the first day of the New Year. This custom was deplored by Saint Eligius (died 659 or 660), who warned the Flemish and Dutch little deer or set tables [for the house-elf, compare Puck] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks
Most nations of Western Europe officially adopted 1 January as New Year's Day somewhat before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. In England, until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, the first day of the New Year was the Catholic Feast of the Annunciation, on 25 March, also called "Lady Day". Dates predicated on the year beginning on 25 March became known as Annunciation Style dates, while dates of the Gregorian Calendar commencing on 1 January were distinguished as Circumcision Style dates, because this was the date of the Feast of the Circumcision, the observed memorial of the eighth day of Jesus Christ's life after his birth, counted from the latter's observation on Christmas, 25 December. Pope Gregory christened 1 January as the beginning of the New Year according to his reform of the Catholic Liturgical Calendar.