January 1 is New Year’s Day — a time of optimism, planning, and resoluteness. There’s a feeling that maybe this year we’ll make the changes we’ve been meaning to: more rest, better eating habits, more exercise, or a new job. New Year’s Day is about taking a moment to get ready for everything that is about to unfold. Happy New Year! Show
History of New Year's DayIn the United States and many other countries around the world, January 1, the first day of the Gregorian calendar, ushers in a new year replete with New Year’s resolutions and promises to do better than in the year before. The day begins with hangover concoctions for some and, for others, prayers of gratitude for surviving to see a new year filled with promise. But how did this holiday begin? It’s a very old story. Most civilizations aligned their calendars with the moon. The ancient Mesopotamians and Babylonians observed the new year over 4,000 years ago. For them, a new year followed the phases of the moon and the vernal equinox — when sunlight and darkness were equally balanced. The Babylonians ritualized the vernal equinox with Akitu, a religious observance spanning 11 days. The Egyptians marked the new year with the flooded waters of the Nile and the star, Sirius. To this very day, the Chinese New Year arrives with the second new moon after the winter solstice. The evolution from the lunar calendar to today’s Gregorian calendar commences with the early Roman calendar devised by Romulus, allegedly suckled by wolves who, along with his brother, Remus, founded Rome. The original Roman calendar was introduced in the 8th century at the start of the vernal equinox (when the light and the darkness are equal, remember?) with 10 months and 304 days. Another Roman king, Numa Pompilius added Januarius and Februarius. Most historians credit the Roman emperor Julius Caesar with developing the Julian calendar, designating January 1 as the start of a new year. The Gregorian calendar, which many nations around the world use today, arrived in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII aligned the calendar, not with the moon, but with the earth’s rotation around the sun — marking 365 days. New Year's Day timeline5000 B.C. The First New Year Along with signifying the vernal equinox as the start of a new year, the ancient Babylonian festival of Akitu honors the sky god Marduk’s victory over the sea goddess, Tiamat. 46 B.C. The Establishment of Leap Years Julius Caesar changes the calendar from pre-Julian to Julian by adding a day every four years as a way to balance out the lunar and solar calendars. The Middle Ages A New Christmas Day The heads of the Church temporarily replace January 1 with Christmas Day or the Feast of the Annunciation — days with more religious significance. 1582 A New Way to Calculate a Year The Roman Catholic Pope Gregory XIII creates the self-named Gregorian calendar based on the Earth’s rotation around the sun as 365 days or a full year.
New Year's Day - Survey ResultsSurvey done by one of the top Market Research Agencies: Adding pork to the New Year’s Day menu You might shake your head to this but many countries have New Year’s traditions that include pigs, which represent progress and abundance. Pork is on New Year’s Day menus in Portugal, Austria, Cuba, and Hungary. Thank the Babylonians for New Year’s Day resolutions Not only were the Mesopotamians and Babylonians among the earliest cultures to mark New Year’s Day as the start of a new year; they came up with the concept of making resolutions. Making resolutions on the first day of the year gave one favor to the gods. Eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day Did you know that the tradition of cooking and eating black-eyed peas goes back over 1,500 years as a Jewish New Year’s Day tradition? This Rosh Hashanah meal arrived in Georgia with Sephardic Jews around 1730. African-Americans also marked their freedom on January 1, 1863, by cooking and eating black-eyed peas. Is it New Years or New Year?“New Year’s Day” is the proper noun of the holiday we celebrate in the new year. When wishing someone a Happy New Year, you do not need to use the possessive apostrophe. When referring to it solely as the beginning of the year rather than the holiday, you use the lowercase “new year”. Why do we celebrate the new year?Why do people say Happy New Years with an S?The ‘s’ tends to be carried over from the possessive proper noun: New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day. We tend to transfer the possessive into the greeting because, for some reason, it just sits better. However, the correct way to say the greeting is “Happy New Year.” New Year's Day Activities
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What is the first day of January 2023?New Year's Day dates. Can you find out what day of the week will be January 1st?January 1, 2022 is a Saturday
It is Saturday number 1 out of 53 in 2022.
What day of the week was Jan 3 2023?3 January 2023 is ...
1st Tuesday of 2023.
What was the day on 1 Jan 0001?January 1, 0001 is a Saturday
Year 0001 has 365 days. January 0001 has 31 days.
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