Happy New Year’s Eve everyone and welcome back to hopefully a more planned-out blog schedule.

History of New Year’s Day

So why do we start the new year with January? Well, it didn’t always. Previously, it would begin in March or even December! According to records, during the reign of Numa in ancient Roman times (c. 515-673 BCE), he declared January to be the start of the new year replacing March. January was named after Janus, the Roman god of all begins. However, it was not officially declared the start of the new year until 153 BCE.

In 46 BCE, Julius Caesar introduced more changes, with the Julian calendar adding more months. After the fall of Rome, many Christian countries altered the calendar to reflect their religion, with March 25th (Feast of the Annunciation) and December 25 (Christmas) becoming standard New Year’s Days.

After some time, the Julian calendar required more changes due to the miscalculation around leap years – this lasted for several centuries causing various events to happen in the wrong seasons. This included the date of Easter and Pope Gregory XIII introduced a revised calendar in 1582, solving the issue of leap years and restoring January 1st as the start of the New Year. Over the course of a couple of centuries, more countries and religions adopted the new calendar.

New Year’s Celebrations

The start of new year may begin on January 1st, but many start celebrating the evening of December 31st – New Year’s Eve. Some traditions include the bolting down of a dozen grapes, popular in Spanish-speaking countries, which symbolizes their hopes for the months ahead. Traditional New Year’s dishes feature legumes, which resemble coins and wealth. Pigs represent progress and prosperity in some cultures and many countries have pork as their main dish. Some countries have ring-shaped cakes and pastries, a sign that the year has come full circle. My family usually has a bowl of black-eyed peas, a slice of spiral ham, collard greens, and a slab of cornbread; all to represent wealth, health, and prosperity for the new year.

However you celebrate it, I hope the New Year brings you happiness and is full of fun adventures.