History of New Year

History of new year is not just impressive but a magnificent one. The occasion of new year is one of the oldest festivals celebrated all over the world with great pomp and splendor. Ranging from the amazing fireworks to the new year traditional gift giving and receiving, the history of every aspect requires an extensive study and attention, if you really want to know more about the new year, dating back to the pre-historic period.

According to the history of new year, the celebration begins by the 1st of every January but celebrating new year on 31st December is a new phenomenon. If we trace back the history of New Year, the first time new year was celebrated was on January 1st in Rome in 153 B.C. although, the tradition of celebrating new year in every country is different but the theme and the purpose of celebration always remains the same.

The start of a new year was significant and the tradition of using a baby to signify the new year was started in Greece around the 600 BC. Since then, new year baby is an important new year symbol on the special and celebratory occasion of new year. Additionally, one of the most popular new year tradition includes making new year resolutions, dating back to the early Babylonians time. New Year is one of the oldest holidays. Many believe it was first observed in very old Babylon about 4000 years before it marked the first new moon following the Vernal Equinox.

The Babylonian new year festivity lasted for eleven days. The Romans named the primary month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the protector of doors and entrances Janus, who is depicted with two heads. One looks forward, the other one back, symbolizing a split between the old and new.

New Year Traditions

There are a plenty of traditions that began many years before that have lost their meaning in current time. Typically these traditions were enacted to influence the fortune one would have in the upcoming year. For example, the new years eve parties that we all know and love began due to the faith that what one did on the first day of the year could affect their fortune. This is why parties go past midnight and into the New Year and it also explains why they involve lots of friends and family. New years traditions are vary country to country and people to people.

Every person enjoys and celebrates this day own way. The New Year resolutions are another important tradition of this big day. The popular tradition of making new years resolutions also has beginning in Ancient Rome and Babylon. The Babylonians would particularly return farm equipment that they had borrowed throughout the year, while in Caesar's time Janus became the sign for resolutions because he had two faces that could seem to the past and into the future.