Until the year 1752 the UK, plus their American colonies, used the Julian calendar which meant they observed New Year’s Day on the 25th of March. In 1752 they switched to the Gregorian calendar which celebrates the new year on the first of January. Before this switch the British calendar differed from that of continental Europe by eleven days. September 2 in London was September 13 in Paris, Lisbon, and Berlin.
For any agrarian culture it makes sense to start the year at the beginning of spring. It feels like a sensible new beginning… as long as one lives in an area where Spring actually happens in March. Perhaps that’s not a good idea for a world-wide holiday. The year shouldn’t change when Europe experiences Spring.
January is the month named after the two-faced god Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, transitions, time, passages, and endings. One face of Janus looks into the past, the other looks into the future. Okay, that makes some sense.
Happy New Year. May the new year be a lot less interesting than 2020.
Wishing you health and happiness.
Happy New Year! I learn a lot from you. Wishing you a year of dull news cycles. Wishing you also an abundance of health and song writing imagination.
Happy New Year! Wishing you peace, love and happiness.
Happy New Year! May it be a year filled with good health, joy and continued creativity!
Prior to the Meiji era this time period was, 小寒 (shokan), as the names followed nature with the use of poetic descriptions. Small + cold.
I hope a nice bowl of whisked tea follows in this new year.
Since the sun traces a sinusoid over the earth with the zero line being the equator and the tropic of Capricorn (23.43656° S) and tropic of Cancer (23.43656° N) representing the peaks, would it make sense to start the year on an equinox?
Vernal or Autumnal equinox … doesn’t matter- just start on a zero crossing. Which equinox to use?, aye, there’s the rub.
The beginning of Spring was the start of the year in the Julian calendar. March was the first month and December was the tenth. I think while using the equinox makes a lot of logical sense it could be divisive. The Vernal equinox represents Spring in Europe and would continue a Europe centric world view. The Autumnal equinox represents Spring in the Southern hemisphere and might feel weird in the North.
For me the Winter Solstice feels like the natural end of the year, the shortest day and longest night. So that would be my choice, but I have come to enjoy January as the beginning of the year because of the Roman god Janus. I like the symbolism.