The tradition of New Year’s resolutions going all the way back to 153 BC Janus, a mythical king of ancient Rome was placed at the top of the agenda.
With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for gifts of forgiveness of enemies and also exchanged before the start of each year.
The new year has not always started on January 1, and does not begin on that date around the world today. We start the day only the cultures that use the solar calendar of 365 days. January 1 became the beginning of the new year 46 BC, when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that better reflect the seasons of previous calendars had.
The Romans called the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginning and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of the head and another on the back. Thus he could look back at the same time. At midnight on December 31 Romans imagined Janus looking back at the year and forward to the new.
The Romans started the tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year’s Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune. Later, nuts or coins imprinted with the god Janus became more common New Year’s gifts.
In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year’s Day on 25 December, the birth of Jesus. Then he moved to March 25, a festival called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar and celebrate the New Year was returned to January 1.
Julian and Gregorian calendars are solar calendars. Some cultures have lunar calendars, however. A year in the lunar calendar is less than 365 days because the months are based on the phases of the moon. The Chinese use a lunar calendar. Their new year begins when the first full moon (over the Far East) after the sun enters Aquarius, sometime between 19 and 21 February.
Although the date of New Year’s Eve is not the same in every culture, is always a time of celebration and customs to ensure good luck for next year.
Old New Year
The New Year celebration is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon 4,000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a new year in what is now the 23rd March if they themselves had no written calendar.
In late March is in fact a logical choice for the beginning of a new year. This is the time of year that spring comes and the crops are planted. January 1, by contrast, has no astronomical significance, or agriculture. It is purely arbitrary.
The Babylonian New Year celebration lasted for eleven days. Every day has its own special space feast, but it’s safe to say that modern New Year’s festivities pale in comparison.
The Romans continued to observe New Year March 25, but their calendar was continually tampered with the various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of sync from the sun.
To set the calendar right, the Roman Senate in 153 BC, declared January 1 will start the new year. However, the manipulation continued until Julius Caesar in 46 BC, established what became known as the Julian calendar. Is revised January 1 as New Year. However, in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous year drag on for 445 days