Editing New Year's Day (section)

==History==
The ancient [[Babylonian calendar]] was lunisolar, and around the year 2000{{nbsp}}BC<ref>{{Cite news |last=Andrews |first=Evan |date=31 December 2012 |title=5 Ancient New Year's Celebrations |work=History News |url=http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/5-ancient-new-years-celebrations |access-date=31 January 2014 |archive-date=13 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113064652/http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/5-ancient-new-years-celebrations |url-status=live }}</ref> began observing a spring festival and the new year during the month of [[Nisan]], around the time of the [[March equinox]]. The early Roman calendar designated 1 March as the first day of the year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brunner |first=Borgna |title=A History of the New Year |url=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/newyearhistory.html |access-date=31 January 2014 |publisher=Infoplease.com |archive-date=22 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122115608/http://www.infoplease.com/spot/newyearhistory.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The calendar had just 10 months, beginning with March. That the new year once began with the month of March is still reflected in some of the names of the months. September through to December, the ninth through to the twelfth months of the [[Gregorian calendar]], were originally positioned as the seventh through to the tenth months. (''Septem'' is [[Latin]] for "seven"; ''octo'', "eight"; ''novem'', "nine"; and ''decem'', "ten") [[Roman mythology]] usually credits their second [[Roman Kingdom|king]] [[Numa Pompilius|Numa]] with the establishment of the two new months of [[Ianuarius]] and [[Februarius]]. These were first placed at the end of the year, but at some point came to be considered the first two months instead.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=Gary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hTDku_ZQ0JgC&pg=PA14 |title=Time in Roman Religion: One Thousand Years of Religious History |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-415-52217-5 |page=14}}</ref>

The January [[Calends|kalend]] ({{langx|la|[[wikt:kalendae#Latin|Kalendae]]|link=no}} [[wikt:Ianuarius#Latin|Ianuariae]]), the start of the month of January, came to be celebrated as the new year at some point after it became the day for the inaugurating new [[Roman consul|consuls]] in 153{{nbsp}}BC as a result of the rebellion in [[Hispania]] which began the [[second Celtiberian War]]. Romans had long dated their years by [[list of Roman consuls|these consulships]], rather than sequentially, and making the kalends of January start the new year aligned this dating. Still, private and religious celebrations around the March new year continued for some time and there is no consensus on the question of the timing for 1 January's new status.<ref>Michels, A.K. ''The Calendar of the Roman Republic'' (Princeton, 1967), pp. 97–98.</ref> Once it became the new year, however, it became a time for family gatherings and celebrations. A series of disasters, notably including the [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul 78 BC)#Rebellion|failed rebellion]] of [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul 78 BC)|M. Aemilius Lepidus]] in 78{{nbsp}}BC, established a superstition against allowing Rome's [[nundinae|market days]] to fall on the [[calends|kalends]] of January and the [[pontifex maximus|pontiffs]] employed [[Intercalation (timekeeping)|intercalation]] to avoid its occurrence.{{sfn|Macrobius|loc=[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Macrobius/Saturnalia/1*.html#13 Book I, Ch. xiii, §17]}}{{sfnp|Kaster|2011|p=163}}

===New Year's Day in the older Julian calendar===
<!-- NB that there is a dedicated section for events associated with New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, near the end of the article. This section is more about history. -->
[[File:Menologion of Basil 047.jpg|thumb|In [[Christendom]], 1 January traditionally marks the [[Feast of the Circumcision of Christ]]]]
The Julian calendar, proposed by [[Julius Caesar]] in 46&nbsp;BC, was a reform of the [[Roman calendar]]. It took effect on {{nowrap|1 January 45&nbsp;BC}}, by edict. The calendar became the predominant calendar in the [[Roman Empire]] and subsequently, most of the [[Western world]] for more than 1,600 years. The Roman calendar began the year on 1 January, and this remained the start of the year after the Julian reform. However, even after local calendars were aligned to the Julian calendar, they started the new year on different dates. The Alexandrian calendar in Egypt started on 29 August (30 August after an Alexandrian leap year). Several local provincial calendars were aligned to start on the birthday of the Emperor [[Augustus]], 23 September. The [[indiction]] caused the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] year, which used the Julian calendar, to begin on 1 September; this date is still used in the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] for the beginning of the liturgical year.

At various times and in various places throughout mediaeval [[Christian Europe]], the new year was celebrated on 25 December in honour of [[Christmas|the birth of Jesus]]; 1 March in the [[Roman calendar|old Roman style]]; 25 March in honour of [[Lady Day]] (the [[Feast of the Annunciation]], the date of the [[Fertilisation|conception]] of Jesus); and on the [[Date of Easter|movable feast of Easter]].<ref name="Sizes"/><ref name="Bond"/>

====Christian observance====
[[File:Wels new years eve church service.jpg|thumb|A [[watchnight service|Watchnight Mass]] at a Lutheran Christian church on New Year's Eve (2014)]]
Christians of various denominations (Catholics, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Moravians, among others) often attend a [[watchnight service]] (also known as a Watchnight Mass if Holy Communion is celebrated) on the night of [[New Year's Eve]] and this liturgy concludes in the morning of New Year's Day. Watchnight services provide the opportunity for Christians to review the year that has passed and [[Repentance (theology)|make confession]], and then prepare for the year ahead by [[Christian prayer|praying]] and [[New Year's resolution|resolving]].<ref name="Ritchie">{{cite book|author=James Ewing Ritchie|url = https://archive.org/details/religiouslifelo00ritcgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/religiouslifelo00ritcgoog/page/n238 223]| title = The Religious Life of London|year=1870|publisher = [[Tinsley Brothers]]|access-date = 28 December 2011|quote=At A Watch-Night Service: Methodism has one special institution. Its lovefeasts are old-old as Apostolic times. Its class meetings are the confessional in its simplest and most unobjectionable type, but in the institution of the watch-night it boldly struck out a new path for itself. In publicly setting apart the last fleeting moments of the old year and the first of the new to penitence, and special prayer, and stirring appeal, and fresh resolve, it has set an example which other sects are preparing to follow.}}</ref> The [[Church service|services]] often include singing, praying, exhorting, [[preaching]], and [[Holy Communion]].<ref name="DM2007">{{cite web |title=Watch Night of Freedom |url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/watch-night-of-freedom |publisher=[[Discipleship Ministries]] |access-date=1 January 2021 |language=en |date=2007 |quote=The Watch Night service is today most often held on New Year's Eve, sometimes concluding at midnight, or on New Year's Day.}}</ref><ref name="Lawrence">{{cite book|author=Anna M. Lawrence|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=94bTO6O2bDAC&q=watchnight+service&pg=PA104| title = One Family Under God: Love, Belonging, and Authority in Early Transatlantic Methodism|date=5 May 2011|publisher = [[University of Pennsylvania Press]]|isbn = 978-0812204179|access-date = 28 December 2011|quote=In 1740, Wesley started watch-night services for the coal miners of the Kingswood area, offering this nocturnal worship as a godly alternative to spending their evenings in ale-houses. The watch-night services consisted of singing, praying, exhorting, and preaching for a number of hours. Wesley meant to establish it as a monthly practice, always at full moon to keep the meeting well lit. In America, this service often supplanted times of traditional drunken revelry, like New Year's Eve and Christmas Eve.}}</ref>

As a date in the Christian calendar, New Year's Day liturgically marked the [[Feast of the Circumcision of Christ|Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus]], which is still observed as such in the [[Lutheran Church]], [[Anglican Communion|Anglican Church]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKim |first=Donald K. |author-link=Donald McKim |title=Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-664-22089-1 |page=51 |url=https://archive.org/details/westminsterdicti0000mcki/page/n7/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hobart |first=John Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/acompanionforfe01hobagoog |title=A Companion for the festivals and fasts of the Protestant Episcopal Church |publisher=Stanford & Co. |year=1840 |page=[https://archive.org/details/acompanionforfe01hobagoog/page/n279 284]}}</ref> the [[Ambrosian Rite|Ambrosian]] section of the Catholicism, the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] (Julian calendar, see [[#Continuing use of the Julian calendar|below]]) and in [[Traditional Catholics|Traditional Catholicism]] by those who retain the usage of the [[General Roman Calendar of 1960]]. The mainstream Roman Catholic Church celebrates on this day the [[Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=New year celebrations have changed throughout history|date=30 December 2021|url=https://www.delgazette.com/opinion/columns/94170/new-year-celebrations-have-changed-throughout-history|access-date=31 December 2021|archive-date=22 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922084541/https://www.delgazette.com/opinion/columns/94170/new-year-celebrations-have-changed-throughout-history|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Western Christianity]], the Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus Christ marks the [[Twelve Days of Christmas|eighth day]] (octave day) of [[Christmastide]].<ref name="MacBeth2014">{{cite book|last=MacBeth|first=Sybil|title=The Season of the Nativity|date=1 November 2014|publisher=Paraclete Press|language=en|isbn=9781612616131|page=113|quote=January 1, New Year's Day, is also the eighty day of Christmas. On the eighth day of life Jewish boys have a circumcision ceremony, or bris. January 1 is the Circumcision of Christ and the Feast of the Holy Name.}}</ref>

====Gift giving====
Among the 7th-century [[pagan]]s of [[Flanders]] and the [[Netherlands]], it was the custom to exchange gifts at the [[winter solstice]]. This custom was deplored by [[Saint Eligius]] (died 659 or 660), who warned the Flemish and Dutch: "(Do not) make visuals, [little figures of the Old Woman], little deer or iotticos or set tables [for the house-elf, compare [[Puck (folklore)|Puck]]] at night or exchange New Year gifts or supply superfluous drinks [another [[Yule]] custom]."<ref>Quoting the ''Vita'' of St. Eligius written by [[Audoin (bishop)|Ouen]].</ref> 
[[File:Magi (1).jpg|thumb|''The Three Magi'', Byzantine mosaic, {{circa|565}}, [[Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo]], [[Ravenna]], Italy (restored during the 19th century). As here, [[Byzantine art]] usually depicts the Magi in [[Persian clothing]], which includes [[breeches]], capes, and [[Phrygian cap]]s.]]
On the date that Christians celebrated the [[Feast of the Circumcision of Christ]] (January 1), they exchanged Christmas presents because the feast fell within the 12 days of the [[Christmastide|Christmas season]] in the [[Western Christianity|Western Christian]] liturgical [[calendar]];<ref name="Forbes2008">{{Cite book |last=Forbes |first=Bruce David |title=Christmas: A Candid History |date=1 October 2008 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-25802-0 |page=114 |quote=Some people referred to New Year gifts as "Christmas presents" because New Year's Day fell within the 12 days of Christmas, but in spite of the name they still were gifts given on January 1.}}</ref> the custom of exchanging Christmas gifts in a Christian context is traced back to the [[Biblical Magi]] who gave gifts to the [[Christ Child]].<ref name="Collins2010">{{Cite book |last=Collins |first=Ace |title=Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas |date=4 May 2010 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-310-87388-4 |page=88 |quote=Most people today trace the practice of giving gifts on Christmas Day to the three gifts that the Magi gave to Jesus.}}</ref><ref name="Berking1999">{{Cite book |last=Berking |first=Helmuth |title=Sociology of Giving |date=30 March 1999 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-5648-8 |page=14 |quote=The winter solstice was a time of festivity in every traditional culture, and the Christian Christmas probably took its place within this mythical context of the solar cult. Its core dogma of the Incarnation, however, solidly established the giving and receiving of gifts as the structural principle of that recurrent yet unique event. 'Children were given presents as the Jesus child received gifts from the magi or kings who came from afar to adore him. But in reality, it was they, together with all their fellow men, who received the gift of God through man's renewed participation in the divine life' (ibid.: 61).}}</ref> In [[Tudor England]], 1 January (as the Feast of the Circumcision, not New Year's Day), along with [[Christmas Day]] and [[Twelfth Night (holiday)|Twelfth Night]], was celebrated as one of three main festivities among the [[Twelve Days of Christmas|twelve days]] of [[Christmastide]], and [[New Year's Day gift (royal courts)|gift-giving was customary at the royal court]].<ref name="Sim2011">{{Cite book |last=Sim |first=Alison |title=Pleasures and Pastimes in Tudor England |date=8 November 2011 |publisher=[[The History Press]] |isbn=978-0-7524-5031-5 |page=85 |quote=Most of the 12 days of Christmas were saints' days, but the main three days for the celebration were Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Epiphany, or Twelfth Night.}}</ref>

===Acceptance of 1 January as New Year's Day===
Most nations of Europe and their colonies officially adopted 1&nbsp;January as New Year's Day somewhat before they [[adoption of the Gregorian calendar|adopted the Gregorian calendar]]. Most of Germany changed to 1&nbsp;January from 1544, the Netherlands did so from 1556 or 1573 according to sect, Spain and Portugal from 1556, France from 1564, Italy ([[Unification of Italy|pre-unification]]) on a variety of dates, Sweden, Norway and Denmark from 1599, Scotland from 1600,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4qUnAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA63 |title=The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland |year=1884 |editor-last=David Masson |volume=VI |page=63 |access-date=20 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123155718/https://books.google.com/books?id=4qUnAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA63 |archive-date=23 January 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> and Russia from 1700 or 1725.<ref name=Sizes /> England, Wales, Ireland, and Britain's American colonies adopted 1&nbsp;January as New Year's Day from 1752.<ref name=Sizes /><ref name=Bond />

====Great Britain and the British Empire====
Until Tuesday, 31 December 1751{{efn|New style: 11 January 1752}} (except Scotland),{{efn|Scotland had already adopted 1 January, since 1600}} the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] and the [[British Empire#"First" British Empire (1707–1783)|British Empire at the time]] had retained 25&nbsp;March as the official start of the year, although informal use of 1&nbsp;January had become common.{{efn|name=Pepys|For example, see {{Cite web |last=Pepys |first=Samuel |title=Tuesday 31 December 1661 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Diary_of_Samuel_Pepys/1661/December#31st |quote="I sat down to end my journey for this year, ..."}} (The [[Diary of Samuel Pepys]])}} With the [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750]], Britain and the Empire formally adopted 1&nbsp;January as New Year's Day in 1752 and, with the same Act, also discarded the Julian calendar at the end of Wednesday, 2 September of that same year (though the actions are otherwise unrelated). The Act came into effect "following the last said day of December 1751".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo2/24/23/1991-02-01?timeline=false | title=Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 {{!}} 1750 CHAPTER 23 24 Geo 2 {{!}} Section 1 | publisher=Parliament of Great Britain | access-date=10 June 2021 | archive-date=22 September 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922112152/https://www.legislation.gov.uk/apgb/Geo2/24/23/1991-02-01?timeline=false | url-status=live }}</ref>{{efn|This syntax was needed because, according to the standard of the time the Bill was being written, the next day would still have been 1751.}}

By 1750, adjustments needed to be made for an eleven-day difference between the older Julian calendar and the newer (and more accurate) Gregorian calendar. There was some [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750#Religious dissent|religious dissent]] regarding feast days being moved, especially Christmas Day (see [[Old Christmas]]), and isolated communities continued the old reckoning to a greater or lesser extent. The years [[1800]] and [[1900]] were [[leap year]]s in the Julian calendar but not in the Gregorian, so the difference increased to twelve days, then thirteen. The year [[2000]] was a leap year in both calendars.
*In the [[Gwaun Valley]] in Wales, [[Gwaun Valley#New Year celebrations|the new year is celebrated on 13&nbsp;January]], still based on the 19th century difference in the calendars.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-16487089|title=Gwaun Valley children mark old New Year|work=BBC News|date=13 January 2012|access-date=1 January 2022|archive-date=1 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220101111146/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-16487089|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Foula]], in the [[Shetland]] islands celebrates [[Yule]] ('Old Christmas' rather than the [[December solstice]]) on 6&nbsp;January and Newerday on 13&nbsp;January.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foula |url=https://www.shetland.org/plan/areas/foula |access-date=29 March 2020 |website=Official Gateway to the Shetland Islands |archive-date=20 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150720035219/https://www.shetland.org/plan/areas/foula |url-status=live }}</ref> Again, both dates reflect the 19th century reckoning and were not moved again in 1900.

===Eastern Orthodoxy===
At various stages during the first half of the twentieth century, all countries in [[Eastern Christendom]] adopted the Gregorian calendar as their [[civil calendar]] but continued, and have continued into modern times, to use the Julian Calendar for ecclesiastical purposes. As 1 January (Julian) equates to 14 January (Gregorian), a religious celebration of the New Year on this date may seem strange to Western eyes.