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Why does our New Year start on January 1 ?
Keeping Track of Divisions of Time
Even the most ancient peoples observed and recognized the recurrence of natural phenomena – the simplest one being night and day , other simple ones such as the phases of the moon and the changing of the seasons , as well as more complex lunar , solar , and stellar occurrences . They also came to understood that these things were cyclical , that is , they occurred regularly throughout periods of time . Calendars are systems designed to keep track of these events and the time between them . From what I have read , there is verification that during the Bronze Age , some 3000 years BC , such records were kept . Prehistoric monuments such as Stonehenge were built to track astronomical phenomena like the solstices and celebrations were held at such times .
However , how did people decide that a complete cycle had ended and another cycle was beginning ?
Beginnings and Endings
Today , January 1 is the first day of the year in most of the countries around the world , in accordance with the Gregorian calendar .
Ancient civilizations , however , marked the beginning of a new year according to different annual aspects of nature . According to Discover . com ’ s newsletter , Babylonians recognized the vernal equinox , the date in March when the day and night are equal in length , as the start of its new year . As early as 2000 BC , Mesopotamians celebrated the New Year around the time of the vernal equinox , too . In Egypt , the annual flooding of the Nile River , which took place with the rising of the star Sirius , was the beginning of the New Year .
Other societies , including the Egyptians , Persians and Phoenicians , chose the autumnal equinox in September , while the Greeks favored the date of the winter solstice in December as the start of their new year .
The Chinese year , one of the oldest traditions still celebrated today , is based on the lunar calendar . The first day of the New Year coincides with the second new moon after the winter solstice , usually occurring in late January or early February .
Creating a Reasonably Accurate Calendar
The original Roman calendar is attributed to the legendary first ruler of Rome , Romulus . Determined by lunar cycles and the seasons of the agricultural year , the year was 10 months long , beginning in March 1 and ending in December . Six months had 30 days and 4 months had 31 days , totaling 304 days . Apparently , the 61 days of the two winter months , during which no work was done in the fields , were not incorporated into the calendar .
The Roman ruler , Numa Pompilius ( 715-673 BC ), is credited with creating January ( Januarius ) and February ( Februarius ) and adding them to the calendar . He divided the year into twelve lunar months and manipulated the calendar to produce a lunar year of 355 days .
However , a lunar calendar does not reflect the length of time it takes Earth to complete its annual orbit around the sun ; therefore , 12 lunar months are shorter than a solar year . Inserting additional days was necessary but it created problems , mostly political . If additional days were not inserted , the calendar became so out of sync that harvest was supposed to be celebrated before crops were even ripe , for example .
In 45 BC , Julius Caesar came to the rescue . Because he had spent time in Egypt ( with Cleopatra , remember ?), he was aware of their calendar , which was based upon the sun , not the moon . >>>
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