Editing New Year's Day (section)

===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.