Happy New Year!
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Day is the first day of the calendar year, 1 January. Most solar calendars (like the Gregorian and Julian) begin the year regularly at or near the northern winter solstice, while cultures and religions that observe a lunisolar or lunar calendar celebrate their Lunar New Year at less fixed points relative to the solar year.
In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar, the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, for whom January is also named. From Roman times until the middle of the 18th century, the new year was celebrated at various stages and in various parts of Christian Europe on 25 December, on 1 March, on 25 March and on the movable feast of Easter.
In the present day, with most countries now using the Gregorian calendar as their civil calendar, 1 January according to Gregorian calendar is among the most celebrated of public holidays in the world, often observed with fireworks at the stroke of midnight following New Year’s Eve as the new year starts in each time zone. Other global New Year’s Day traditions include making New Year’s resolutions and calling one’s friends and family.
As a date in the Christian calendar, New Year’s Day liturgically marked the Feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus, which is still observed as such in the Anglican Church, the Lutheran Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and in Traditional Catholicism by those who retain the usage of the General Roman Calendar of 1960. The mainstream Roman Catholic Church celebrates on this day the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.