Why Do We Celebrate New Year's Day on January 1st?

The Why and How of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

Why do we celebrate New Year's Day on January 1st? It all goes back to Julius Caesar. Well, actually that date was chosen in 153 B.C. by the Roman Senate. That didn't matter much though, the New Year's Eve date was celebrated whenever folks wanted to.........until Julius Caesar decided in 46 BC that it WOULD be celebrated on January 1st.

Julius actually created the Julian calender that year and decided the New Year would start on January 1st. That first year he had to make the year last 445 days in order to synchronize the calendar with the sun!

You'd think the New Year would be celebrated sometime around Spring. When things began to grow and everyone was glad to survive the winter. The Babylonians sure thought so! They celebrated New Year's Eve in 2000 B.C. with the first New Moon after the Vernal Equinox. Their celebration of New Year's actually lasted 11 days. The celebration was called Akitu.

Akitu was an enactment of a mythical battle fought between the new god Marduk and the old goddess Tiamet. It was the story of creation and sought to show bringing heaven and earth back into synch. They wanted to start the New Year fresh! At the end of the festival oracles were cast to determine the fate of the coming 12 months. Their most popular resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment!

That sure sounds like a battle between old man time of the passing year versus the new baby of the New Year. Add in some resolutions to determine your fate for the next 12 months! Actually the image of a baby was introduced by the Greeks somewhere around 600 B.C. They celebrated their God Wine, Dionysus by putting a baby in a basket on parade. That baby represented the annual rebirth of Dionysus as the spirit of fertility and rebirth.

Some Christian denominations celebrate New Year's Eve because they believe that was when Jesus Christ was circumcised!