New Year is the time at which
a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count is incremented.
In many cultures, the event is celebrated in some manner.The New
Year of the Gregorian calendar, today in worldwide use, falls on
1 January, as was the case with the Roman calendar. There are numerous
calendars that remain in regional use that calculate the New Year
differently.
The order of months in the Roman
calendar was January to December since King Numa Pompilius in about
700 BC, according to Plutarch and Macrobius. According to Catholic
tradition, 1 January is the day of the circumcision of Jesus (on
the eighth day from his birth), when the name of Jesus was given
to him (Luke 2:21).
It was only relatively recently
that 1 January again became the first day of the year in Western
culture. Until 1751 in England and Wales (and all British dominions)
the new year started on 25 March – Lady Day, one of the four quarter
days (the change to 1 January took place in 1600 in Scotland). Since
then, 1 January has been the first day of the year. During the Middle
Ages several other days were variously taken as the beginning of
the calendar year (1 March, 25 March, Easter, 1 September, 25 December).
In many countries, such as the Czech Republic, Italy and the UK,
1 January is a national holiday.
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