New Year
The
New Year is an event that happens when a
culture celebrates the end of one
year and the beginning of the next. Cultures that measure yearly
calendars all have
New Year celebrations.
For further information, see New Year's Eve and New Year's DayThe most common modern dates of celebration are:
*
1 January : The first day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar used by most
developed countries.
*
Rosh Hashanah (
Hebrew for 'head of the year') is a celebration that occurs 163 days following Pesach (
Passover). In the
Gregorian calendar at present, Rosh Hashanah cannot occur before
5 September, when it occurred in 1899 and will occur again in 2013. After the year 2089, the differences between the Hebrew Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar will force Rosh Hashanah to be not earlier than
6 September. Rosh Hashanah cannot occur later than
5 October, when it occurred in 1967 and will again occur in 2043. See
Hebrew Calendar.
*In the
Eastern Orthodox Church, the New Year (also celebrating the infant Jesus'
circumcision) is on
14 January (
1 January in the
Julian Calendar). Many in the countries where Eastern Orthodoxy predominates celebrate both the Gregorian and Julian New Year holidays, with the Gregorian day celebrated as a
civic holiday, and the Julian date as the "
Old New Year", a
religious holiday.
** Note: more than half of the Eastern Orthodox Churches have adopted the
Revised Julian calendar and celebrate the new year on January 1st.
*In the
Coptic Orthodox Church, the New Year, called
Neyrouz, coincides with
11 September in the Gregorian calendar between 1900 and 2099, with the exception of the year before Gregorian leap years, when Neyrouz occurs on
12 September). The Coptic year 1723 began in September 2005. The
Ethiopian Orthodox New Year, called
Enkutatash, falls on the same date as Neyrouz; it is currently 1998 in the
Ethiopian calendar.
*The
Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, occurs every year at a
new moon during the
winter. The exact date can fall anytime between
21 January and
21 February inclusive, on the
Gregorian Calendar. Because the
Chinese calendar is astronomically defined, unlike the Gregorian Calendar, the
drift of the seasons will change the range. Each year is symbolized by one of 12 animals and one of five elements, with the combinations of animals and elements (or stems) cycling every 60 years. It is perhaps the most important Chinese holiday. The Chinese New Year is generally celebrated with
firecrackers, and in some places with a
parade.
*The
Vietnamese New Year is the
Tết Nguyên Đán which is for most times the same day as the Chinese New Year.
*The
Tibetan New Year is
Losar and falls from January through March.
*The
Iranian New Year, called
Norouz, is the day containing the exact moment of the
vernal equinox, commencing the start of the spring season.
*The
Tamil New Year and
Vishu are celebrated on the same day respectively in the Southern Indian states of
Tamil Nadu and
Kerala. They generally fall on
13 April or
14 April. The first month of the Tamil New Year is called Chithrai. Every year in the month of Chithrai, in the temple city of
Madurai, the Chithrai Thiruvizha is celebrated in the
Meenakshi Temple. A huge exhibition is also held, called Chithrai Porutkaatchi. In some parts of Southern
Tamil Nadu, it is also called Chithrai
Vishu. The day is marked with a feast in
Hindu homes and the entrance to the houses are decorated elaborately with
kolams.
*The
Telugu New Year generally falls in the months of March or April. The people of
Andhra Pradesh,
India celebrate the advent of
Lunar year this day.
*The
Thai New Year is celebrated from
13 April to
15 April by throwing water.
*In
April when the sun moves from the Meena Rashiya (House of
Pisces) to the Mesha Rashiya (House of
Aries)
Sri Lankans begin celebrating their national New Year,
Aluth Avurudhu in
Sinhala and
Puththandu in
Tamil. The new year generally falls on
13 April or
14 April.
*The
Cambodian New Year and
Lao New Year are celebrated from
13 April to
15 April.
*The
Bengali New Year
Poila Baisakh is celebrated on
14 April or
15 April in a festive manner in both
Bangladesh and
West Bengal.
*Some
neo-pagans celebrate
Samhain (a festival of the ancient Celts, held around
November 1) as a new year's day representing the new cycle of the
Wheel of the Year, although they do not use a different calendar that starts on this day.
*The
Gujarati New Year is celebrated usually two days after the festival of
Diwali (held in mid-November).
*The
Islamic New Year occurs on 1
Muharram. Since the
Muslim calendar is based on 12
lunar months amounting to about 354 days, the Gregorian date of this is about eleven days earlier each year. 2008 will see two Muslim New Years.
*The
Assyrian New Year, called Rish Nissanu, occurs on the vernal equinox,
21 March, commencing the start of the spring.
*In the
Bahá'í calendar, the new year occurs on the vernal equinox on
21 March, and is called Naw-Rúz.
*The
Punjabi new year
Vaisakhi is celebrated on
13 April and celebrates the harvest.
*
Hola Mohalla, New Year's Day in the
Sikh Nanakshahi calendar is on
March 14.
*The
Thelemic new year is usually celebrated with an invocation to
Ra-Hoor-Khuit, commemorating the beginning of the
New Aeon in 1904. It also marks the start of the twenty two day Thelemic holy season.
The ancient
Roman calendar had only ten
months and started the year on
1 March, which is still reflected in the names of some months which derive from
Latin:
September (seventh),
October (eighth),
November (ninth),
December (tenth). Around
713 BC the months of
January and
February were added to the year, traditionally by the second king,
Numa Pompilius, along with the leap month
Intercalaris. Centuries later,
1 January may have become the first day of the calendar year (January to December), but it did not become the first day of the
consular year (the year used in dates) until
153 BC, when consuls first entered office on
1 January (before 153 BC, consuls had entered office later in the calendar year). In 45 BC,
Julius Caesar introduced the
Julian calendar, dropping Intercalaris; however,
1 January continued to be the first day of the new year.
In the
Middle Ages in
Europe a number of significant feast days in the
ecclesiastical calendar of the
Roman Catholic Church came to be used as the
beginning of the Julian year:
* In
Christmas Style dating the new year started on
25 December. This was used in
Germany and
England until the thirteenth century, and in
Spain from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century.
* In
Annunciation Style dating the new year started on
25 March, the feast of the
Annunciation. This was used in many parts of Europe in the Middle Ages, and was the style introduced by
Dionysius Exiguus in AD
525. Annunciation Style continued to be used in the
Kingdom of Great Britain until
January 1 1752, except
Scotland which changed to
Circumcision Style dating on
1 January 1600. The rest of Great Britain changed to
Circumcision Style on the
1 January preceding the conversion in Great Britain from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar on 3/
14 September 1752. The UK tax year still starts on
6 April which is
25 March + 12 days, eleven for the conversion from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar plus a dropped leap day in 1900.
* In
Easter Style dating, the new year started on
Easter Saturday (or sometimes on
Good Friday). This was used in
France from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. A disadvantage of this system was that because Easter was a
movable feast the same date could occur twice in a year; the two occurrences were distinguished as "before Easter" and "after Easter".
* In
Circumcision Style dating, the new year started on
1 January, the
Feast of the Circumcision (of
Jesus).
The ancient Roman new year of
1 March was used in the
Republic of Venice until its destruction in 1797, and in
Russia from 988 until the end of the fifteenth century.
1 September was used in
Russia from the end of the fifteenth century until the adoption of the
Christian era in 1700 (previously, Russia had counted years since the creation of the world).
Since the seventeenth century, the Roman Catholic ecclesiastic year has started on the first day of
Advent, the Sunday nearest to
St. Andrew's Day (
30 November).
Autumnal equinox day (usually
22 September) is "New Year's Day" in the
French Republican Calendar, which was in use from 1793 to 1805. This was
primidi Vendemière, the first day of the first month.
April Fool's Day probably has its origin with a pre-Gregorian new year celebration which went from the spring equinox to
April 1. When the new calendar, starting on
January 1, replaced it, people who continued to celebrate the traditional New Year were, apparently, mocked and teased, the subject of various humorous harassment.
*
Japanese New Year*
Hogmanay*
New Year in Bulgaria
