The history of New Year's Day originates from the ancient Roman calendar system. The start of the new year, January 1st, was first adopted in 153 BC.
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| Today, most countries around the world celebrate the New Year on January 1st. However, not many people know much about the history of New Year's Day. |
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| According to historical records, the history of New Year's Day originates from the calendar system of the ancient Romans. |
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| The Roman calendar was created by Romulus (founder of Rome, around 753 BC) based on the lunar calendar system used by the Greeks. This calendar, known as the Romulus calendar, consisted of 10 months, beginning with the day of the vernal equinox (approximately March 21st in the present Gregorian calendar). |
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| The second Roman emperor, Numöm Pompillus (715-673 BC), improved the Romulus calendar into the Numa calendar, which consisted of 12 months. A normal Numa year had 355 days, and in years with a mens intercalaris (leap month), it had 385 days. |
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| During the Roman Republic period (around 450 BC), the Numa calendar was modified to the Roman Republic calendar. According to this calendar, two years containing the month of Mercedonius would have 377 and 378 days, while the other two years would have 355 days. |
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| Although more accurate than previous calendars, the Roman Republic calendar was still very complex and often miscalculated for various reasons. |
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| Based on this calendar, Rome was the first nation to choose January 1st as the start of the new year, dating back to 153 BC. However, this was not widely respected due to cultural and political customs in different regions of Rome. |
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| By the time of Emperor Julius Caesar (100-44 BC), this calendar system had been fundamentally reformed into the Julian calendar, laying the foundation for today's Gregorian calendar. |
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| Julius Caesar's new calendar was adopted fairly uniformly throughout the Roman Empire, still maintaining January 1st as the first day of the year. In his honor, the Senate renamed his birth month (July) from its old name, Quintilis, to July. |
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| Later, Caesar's grandson, Emperor Augustus, received a similar honorary reward. Accordingly, the name of the month of August was changed from Sextilis to August, because he corrected an error in the calculation of leap years. |
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| The Julian calendar underwent no significant revisions until 1582 when Pope Gregory XII took office, incorporating the modern calendar method for dividing the months and years. The Pope revised and confirmed the new year as January 1st, despite opposition from Christian associations. |
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| Catholic countries were the first to adopt New Year's Day, followed by Protestant countries. Germany adopted New Year's Day in 1700, followed by England (1752) and Sweden (1753). |
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| Eastern countries, influenced by various religions such as Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Islam, have also adopted calendars similar to those of Christianity. Japan adopted the Gregorian New Year in 1873, and China in 1912. |
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| In Vietnam, the Gregorian New Year has been observed since the French colonial period, when the Western calendar replaced the traditional lunar calendar. Government offices at that time were closed on these days to celebrate the new year. |
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| Today, New Year's Day has been Vietnamized and has become a traditional holiday for the entire nation... |
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