New Year's Day

New Year's Day is a holiday in many countries. It was made to welcome the new year. In most countries, New Year's Day is celebrated on 1 January. This holiday is celebrated the most, with over 200 countries and territories in the world that observe it.

New Year's Day
Fireworks in Mexico City at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, 2013
Observed by	Users of the Gregorian calendar
Significance	The first day of the Gregorian year
Date	1 January
Celebrations	Making New Year's resolutions, church services, parades, sporting events, fireworks
Related to	New Year's Eve, Christmastide

The new year is an event that happens when a culture celebrates the end of one year and the beginning of the next. Cultures that measure yearly calendars all have new year celebrations.

Modern new year celebrations

Date	Celebration
1 January	Christian New Year
14 January	Eastern Orthodox New Year
22 January	Chinese New Year (also known as the lunar year. It takes place every year on the first lunar month)
22 January	Vietnamese New Year (also known as the Tết Nguyên Đán)
January to March	Tibetan New Year
14 March	Sikh / Nanakshahi New Year (also called Hola Mohalla)
20 or 21 March	Iranian New Year (also called Norouz. It is the day containing the exact moment of the vernal equinox)
19, 20, 21 or 22 March	Bahá'í New Year (also called Naw-Rúz. It is the day (starting at the previous sunset) in Tehran containing the exact moment of the vernal equinox)
1 April	Assyrian New Year (also called Rish Nissanu)
13 or 14 April	Tamil New Year
March or April	Telugu New Year
13 April	Punjabi New Year (also called Vaisakhi and celebrates the harvest)
13 to 15 April	Thai New Year (celebrated by throwing water)
13 or 14 April	Sri Lankan New Year (when the sun moves from the Meena Rashiya (House of Pisces) to the Mesha Rashiya (House of Aries))
13 to 15 April	Cambodian New Year
14 or 15 April	Bengali New Year (also called Pohela Baisakh)
October or November	Gujarati New Year
October or November	Marwari New Year
Muharram 1	Islamic New Year

Early Christmas

In Christmas Style dating, the new year started on 25 December. This was used in Germany and England until the thirteenth century, and in Spain from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century.

In Annunciation Style dating the new year started on 25 March, the feast of the Annunciation. This was used in many parts of Europe in the Middle Ages. The style was started by Dionysius Exiguus in AD 525. Annunciation Style was used in England until 1 January 1752, and in Scotland until 1 January 1600, when the kingdom of Scotland changed to Circumcision Style. England, the kingdom of Ireland, and the Thirteen Colonies changed to Circumcision Style on 1 January, after the United Kingdom of Great Britain changed from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar on 3/14 September 1752. This happened because the Parliament of Great Britain made an act of parliament, the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.

New Year's Day Media

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  Fireworks in London on New Year's Day at the stroke of midnight

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  Countries where the main celebrations of the New Year are other days than on 1 January

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  Sydney contributes to some of the major New Year celebrations each year.

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  New Year's fireworks in front of the Helsinki Cathedral in Helsinki, Finland, about one minute past midnight on New Year's Day in 2016.

Other websites

• New Year's Around the World Archived 2011-01-03 at the Wayback Machine – slideshow by Life magazine
•   "New Year's Day". New International Encyclopedia. (1905).