The History of New Year’s Day Celebrations
Did you know that New Year’s Day was first observed back in ancient Babylonian times, which was almost 5000 years ago? The Babylonian New Year actually began in the spring. It started with the first New Moon that appeared after the Vernal Equinox, which is the first day of Spring. And the celebration lasted a full eleven days.
On down the years, the Romans held their New Year’s celebration towards the end of March. That is until numerous emperors changed the calendar so much that it fell out of synch with the sun. New Year’s was changed to be held on January 1st in 153 BC.
The early Catholic Church saw the Roman New Year’s celebrations as paganism festivities. But as with most other pagan celebrations, the church began having concurrent festivities until they melded into the one church-approved celebration. And to this day, New Years is observed as the Feast of Christ’s Circumcision by some denominations.
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