Editing New Year (section)

==Historical European new year dates==
During the [[Roman Republic]] and the [[Roman Empire]], years began on the date on which each consul first entered the office. This was probably May 1 before 222 BC, March 15 from 222 BC to 154 BC,<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/senategeneralind00ecks/page/n41 16]|title=Senate and General: Individual Decision-making and Roman Foreign Relations, 264–194 B.C.|url=https://archive.org/details/senategeneralind00ecks|url-access=limited|author=Arthur M. Eckstein|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|date=1987|isbn=9780520055827}}</ref> and January 1 from 153 BC.<ref>[http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_cal.htm#eponymous Roman Dates: Eponymonous Years] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621043226/http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_cal.htm#eponymous |date=June 21, 2009 }}</ref> In 45 BC, when [[Julius Caesar]]'s new [[Julian calendar]] took effect, the Senate fixed January 1 as the first day of the year. At that time, this was the date on which those who were to hold civil office assumed their official position, and it was also the traditional annual date for the convening of the Roman Senate. This civil new year remained in effect throughout the Roman Empire, east and west, during its lifetime and well after, wherever the Julian calendar continued in use.

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 [[Julian year (calendar)#Julian start of the year|beginning of the Julian year]]:

* {{anchor|Circumcision Style|Circumcision style|Modern Style|modern style|Modern style}}In ''Modern Style''<ref name="Ritter 2005, p. 194">{{Citation |first=R. M. |last=Ritter |year=2005  |title=New Hart's Rules:The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors: The Handbook of Style for Writers and Editors
|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780191650499 |page= 194}}</ref> or ''Circumcision Style'' dating, the new year started on January 1, the  [[Feast of the Circumcision of Christ]].
* {{anchor|Annunciation Style|Annunciation style|Lady Day Style|Lady Day style}}In  ''Annunciation Style'' or ''Lady Day Style'' dating the new year started on March 25,<ref name="Ritter 2005, p. 194"/> the feast of the [[Annunciation]] (traditionally nicknamed [[Lady Day]]). This date was used in many parts of Europe during the Middle Ages and beyond.<ref name="New Advent">{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Catholic Encyclopedia |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03738a.htm#beginning |chapter=General Chronology (Beginning of the Year) |publisher=New Advent |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: General Chronology |access-date=2022-01-02 |archive-date=2021-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125003503/https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03738a.htm#beginning |url-status=live }}</ref>
* {{anchor|Easter Style|Easter style|Good Friday Style|Good Friday style}}In ''Easter Style'' dating, the new year started on [[Holy Saturday]] (the day before [[Easter]]),<ref name=fantazzi>{{cite book|title=Early Writings I|date=1987|publisher=E. J. Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=9789004077829|page=xvii|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eZIglKV3bmAC&pg=PR17|series=Selected Works of Juan Luis Vives|volume=1|editor1-first=Constant|editor1-last=Matheeussen|editor2-first=Charles|editor2-last=Fantazzi|editor3-first=Edward V.|editor3-last=George|access-date=17 March 2014|chapter=General Introduction, §IV. The date of the ''Opuscula varia''|quote=The ''town'' of Louvain, belonging to the duchy of Brabant, used the Easter Style, beginning the year at Holy Saturday.}}</ref>  or sometimes on [[Good Friday]]. This was used all over Europe, but especially 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".
* {{anchor|Christmas Style|Christmas style|Nativity Style|Nativity style}}In ''Christmas Style'' or ''Nativity Style'' dating the new year started on December 25. This was used in Germany and England until the eleventh century,<ref name=England>{{harv|Bond|1875|loc=[https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=bzAWAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA90&hl=en_GB p. 91]}}</ref> and in Spain from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century.

Over the centuries, countries changed between styles until the Modern Style (January 1) prevailed. For example,
* In [[England]] and [[Ireland]], either Annunciation Style (March 25) or Nativity Style (December 25th) was used until the [[Norman Conquest]] in 1066, when Modern Style (January 1) was adopted; but Annunciation Style was used again from 1155.<ref name=England/>
* [[Scotland]] changed from Annunciation Style (March 25) to Modern Style with effect from January 1, 1600 (by Order of the King's [[Privy Council]] on December 17, 1599).{{sfnp|Bond|1875|loc=See footnote on pages xvii–xviii: original text of the Scottish decree}} 
* Despite the unification of the Scottish and English royal crowns with the accession of King James VI and I in 1603, and even the [[Acts of Union 1707|union of the kingdoms themselves]] in 1707, England continued using Annunciation Style while Scotland used Modern Style. This led to the act being recorded at the time in England as 6 March 1706 (rather than 1707), because in England (unlike Scotland) it fell before the new year began (on 25 March).
* The final change came when Parliament passed the [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750]]. This act had two major elements: it converted all parts of the British Empire{{efn|Including Great Britain, of course.}} to use of the Gregorian calendar and simultaneously it declared the civil new year in England, Wales, Ireland and the Colonies to be January 1 (as was already the case in Scotland). It went into effect on 3&nbsp;September ([[Old Style]]) or 14{{nbsp}}September (New Style) 1752.<ref name="Ritter 2005, p. 194"/>

A more unusual case is France, which observed the [[Southward equinox|Northern autumn equinox]] day (usually September 22) as "New Year's Day" in the [[French Republican Calendar]], which was in use from 1793 to 1805. This was ''primidi Vendémiaire'', the first day of the first month.