The celebration of the new year on January 1st is a relatively new phenomenon. The
earliest recording of a new year celebration is believed to have been in Mesopotamia,
c. 2000 B.C. and was celebrated around the time of the vernal equinox, in mid-March.
A variety of other dates tied to the seasons were also used by various ancient cultures.
The Egyptians, Phoenicians, and Persians began their new year with the fall equinox,
and the Greeks celebrated it on the winter solstice.
Early Roman Calendar: March 1st Rings in the New Year
The early Roman calendar designated March 1 as the new year. The calendar had just
ten 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 December,
our ninth through twelfth months, were originally positioned as the seventh through
tenth months (septem is Latin for "seven," octo is "eight," novem is "nine," and
decem is "ten").
January Joins the Calendar
The first time the new year was celebrated on January 1st was in Rome in 153 B.C.
(In fact, the month of January did not even exist until around 700 B.C., when the
second king of Rome, Numa Pontilius, added the months of January and February.)
The new year was moved from March to January because that was the beginning of the
civil year, the month that the two newly elected Roman consuls—the highest officials
in the Roman republic—began their one-year tenure. But this new year date was not
always strictly and widely observed, and the new year was still sometimes celebrated
on March 1.
Julian Calendar: January 1st Officially Instituted as the New Year
In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar introduced a new, solar-based calendar that was a vast
improvement on the ancient Roman calendar, which was a lunar system that had become
wildly inaccurate over the years. The Julian calendar decreed that the new year
would occur with January 1, and within the Roman world, January 1 became the consistently
observed start of the new year.
Middle Ages: January 1st Abolished
In medieval Europe, however, the celebrations accompanying the new year were considered
pagan and unchristian like, and in 567 the Council of Tours abolished January 1
as the beginning of the year. At various times and in various places throughout
medieval Christian Europe, the new year was celebrated on Dec. 25, the birth of
Jesus; March 1; March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation; and Easter.
Gregorian Calendar: January 1st Restored
In 1582, the Gregorian calendar reform restored January 1 as new year's day. Although
most Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calendar almost immediately, it was
only gradually adopted among Protestant countries. The British, for example, did
not adopt the reformed calendar until 1752. Until then, the British Empire—and their
American colonies—still celebrated the new year in March.