There goes one more year into the pages of history. And we are sure you had a rocking time celebrating the arrival of the New Year. Isn’t it amazing how the whole wide world celebrates this day with so much pomp and show? People across the globe, with great enthusiasm and excitement welcome the advent of a new set of twelve months. 

We thought of taking a look at the history behind the New Year and we stumbled upon quite a few interesting facts. Consider this; New Year was not always celebrated on the 1st of Jan. Unbelievable??? Read on…

The celebration of New Year is one of the oldest festivals of the world and also, as a matter of fact, was not always celebrated on January 1st. It was first observed in Mesopotamia’s ancient city Babylon, about 4000 years ago around the time of vernal equinox, in mid-March (March 20th). March, the month, when the spring season begins and new crops are being planted was definitely a logical choice for the beginning of a new year. It is also believed that the Babylonians were the first to make New Year's resolutions. 

For Romans New Year began with the month of March as the ancient Lunar based Roman calendar had only 10 months beginning from March till December. In 700 B.C. two months, January and February were added in the ancient Roman calendar. Once January joined the calendar, New Year was moved from March to January, as this month embarked the beginning of new civil year and also the month when the highest officials in the Roman republic began their one-year tenure. So, for the first time the New Year was celebrated in Rome on January 1st 153 B.C. In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar introduced a new, solar-based calendar that was a vast improvement on the ancient Roman calendar, according to which January 1st was consistently observed as the start of a new year. In medieval Europe, however, the celebrations accompanying the New Year were considered pagan and unchristian like, and in 567 A.D. the Council of Tours abolished January 1 as the beginning of the year. At various times and in various places throughout medieval Christian Europe, the New Year was celebrated on Dec. 25, the birth of Jesus. In 1582, the Gregorian calendar, a corrected version of Caesar’s calendar, restored January 1 as New Year’s Day. Although most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar almost immediately, it was only gradually adopted among Protestant countries. The British, for example, did not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752. Until then, the British Empire and their American colonies, still celebrated the New Year in March. 

Irrespective, of January 1st being observed as New Year’ Eve globally, many countries like India, China, Thailand, Vietnam who follow the Gregorian calendar, celebrate New Year on other dates as well.

 So with all that GYAN on the history of New Years, here’s wishing all of you out there FABULOUS NEW YEAR! And please try to stick to your resolutions for this year. Join the PP team to wish the whole world today in their own tongue.