New Year's Day

New Year’s Day is the name given to the first day of the year. It falls on 1st January, exactly one week after Christmas Day of the previous year in most Western countries. In countries which use the Julian calendar, New Year's Day falls on 14th January in the Gregorian calendar used in the West (which corresponds to 1st January in the Julian calendar).

In Great Britain, before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, New Year's Day was on 25th March (Lady Day). So, for example, 24th March 1750 was the day before 25th March 1751. This is confusing to us today, but was quite normal at that time. However, when the new calendar was instituted, it was decreed that 1752 would end on 31st December, and the next day, 1st January, would be New Year's Day. Even to this day, the tax year in the UK starts on 6th April (which was the Gregorian equivalent of the old 25th March in 1752).

In England and Wales, New Year's Day has no particular cultural significance, although in Scotland, where it is part of Hogmanay, it is the main celebration of the year, traditionally regarded as more important than Christmas.

In most Western countries, New Year's Day is a day for special concerts and sports events, a continuation of the holiday season which started at Christmas. Many families continue the holiday celebrations with a second festive dinner on New Year's Day, substituting roast pork or some other meat for the turkey normally eaten at Christmas.

One of the main traditions connected with New Year's Day is the making of New Year's Resolutions, which are basically a list of good intentions for the following year. These may include such things as going on a diet, stopping smoking, and so on, but statistically it seems that the majority of people do not follow through on their resolutions.

In the week surrounding New Year, the main theme of television and radio is a retrospective of the previous year in exhaustive detail, along with a few programmes of the festive type, and on New Year's Eve from around 11pm through to 1am the following morning, most channels feature parties with celebrity guests including singers and comedians, most of whom will perform. At midnight, with a nod to Scottish tradition, the tradition is for people who are together to link arms and sing "Auld Lang Syne".

With the exception of Israel, all countries that use the Gregorian calendar keep New Year’s Day as a Public Holiday.

If you're looking for a way to commemorate this event, you might be interested in this article: Commemorations with Cross Stitch

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