I’ve been writing a column for the Virginia Gazette called “Did You Know That” since March of this year. It appears once a month (usually on the 4th Saturday), but it sometimes gets bumped if there’s too much news of more immediate significance. That’s what happened this month; my article was scheduled to be published last Saturday, but it was bumped to today. That’s fine for my purposes, because I usually write about something in the local paper on Wednesday, and my article makes it easy for me to produce this essay today – I’ve already written it! That’s good, because we’re still at our son’s house in Georgia and we’ll be on the road most of the day. We’re leaving in 30 minutes.
So the premise of my article is that January 1 is basically a pretty arbitrary day to start the “New Year.” It is a fixed date with no connection to a specific part of the solar or the lunar cycle. Traditionally, a “new year” meant that some element of a celestial cycle had come around again, and cultures marked that because it was important to their lives.
Here are a few points I made in the article:
Until the 1750s, countries in Western Europe acknowledged the New Year on March 25, which was Annunciation Day for Christians (the day Gabriel informed Mary that she was carrying the Messiah, nine months before Christmas Day). There are a whole bunch of things wrong with this dating – primarily, people who study these things generally agree that Christ was probably born sometime in the spring and that Christmas came to be celebrated in December only because people were already celebrating pagan festivals at that time.
The Chinese New Year begins on the new moon occurring between January 21 and February 20. In 2024, this will be February 10.
The Hindu New Year (Ugadi) is celebrated on the morning after the first new moon after the spring equinox – usually in late March of early April. In 2024, Ugadi falls on April 9.
Iran recognizes Nowruz (March 21-21) as the new year. This is the date of the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere and represents new beginnings.
The Thai New Year (Songkran) is on April 13. This holiday is rooted in a Buddhist folk myth related to harvest and spring.
The Islamic New Year occurs on 1 Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. This date commemorates the flight of the prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina. In 2024, this holiday will be on July 19.
Judaism observes Rosh Hashanah as the new year in late September or early October. In 2024, this holiday will be observed from sunset on October 2 through nightfall on October 4.
The Christian liturgical calendar recognizes Advent – beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christman in late November or early December – as the beginning of the new liturgical year. This year, Advent runs from December 3w through December 24.
And on a completely non-religious note, most families in the United States feel like the new year begins when school starts in late August or early September.
If you check your local newspaper or online sources, you’ll find information about how you can join in these celebrations, many of which encourage outside participants.
Here’s my point (I know you were wondering): every day is the beginning of a new year. Some days are recognized as The New Year, but that’s not necessary for you to make resolutions to do things better – or at least differently – starting, well, today. We all know that gyms and rec centers experience a surge in enrollment in January, and people resolve to eat better and drink less in The New Year.
Why wait? Every day is New Year’s Eve.
I was wondering why January 1st. I know the months come from the Romans but found out more on Wikipedia. January 1 falls as the days are getting longer. For a week before and after the winter solstice the days are about the same length. With January 1 they start getting longer. That seems to me a good case for starting the new year then.
Then I looked for why in 1752. Google generated AI tells me January 1st became the start of the new year in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar. There's an interesting article on the History Channel about the Julian and Gregorian calendars.
Yes, and as I have said as long as I can remember, every day is my birthday! 😎