Why is the new year begins from January 1?

Whole world celebrate New Year from 1 January. But first the new year started from 25th March. There is a story thousands of years old behind this new year from January 1. Know why the new year started from January 1.

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The beginning of the year started from March

From 715 BCE to 673 BCE Numa Pompillas was the king of Rome. He did some revenge in the Roman calendar. January was considered the first month in place of March in the calendar. Actually, Janut is named after Janus, who is believed to be the god of initiating something in Rome, while the name March was derived from mars, which is considered the god of war. So Numa made January the first month because it means the beginning. Well there were 10 months in that calendar and 310 days in a year. A week was also 8 days in those days. January 1 was not officially declared the beginning of the Roman year until 153 BCE.

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Julian calendar

King Julian Caesar of Rome made some changes to the Roman calendar but kept January as the first month. He started the new year from 1 January. The 12 months of the year were considered based on new calculations in the Julian calendar. Julius Caesar contacted astronomers and calculated. It revealed that the earth revolves around the sun in 365 days and six hours. Therefore, in the Julian calendar, 365 days were considered instead of 310 in the year, and for the remaining 6 hours, the concept of leap year came. In every 4 moves, this 6 hours together becomes 24 hours i.e. one day, then every fourth year February was done for 29 days.

New Year on 25 March and 25 December

After the fall of the Roman Empire, many Christian countries changed the Julian calendar in the 5th century. He tries to make it in line with his religion. Some, according to their religious beliefs, started celebrating the new year on 25 March and some on 25 December. According to Christian belief, on March 25, Gabriel, the special messenger of God, came and gave a message to Mary that she would give birth to Jesus, the incarnation of God. On the 25th of December, Jesus Christ was born.

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Gregorian calendar

Later it was found that there is an error regarding the leap year in the Julian calendar. A religion guru named Saint Beed said that in a year, 365 days are 5 hours and 46 seconds, rather than 365 days and 6 hours. By amending it, Pope Gregory introduced the new calendar in 1582, since then 1 January was considered the beginning of the new year.

When was the Gregory calendar adopted?

The Gregorian calendar was adopted from October 1582. After 10 days, the calendar was started from October 15 directly after October 5. Most Catholic countries immediately adopted the Gregorian calendar. They included most of Spain, Portugal and Italy. But Protestants were unwilling to adopt it immediately. Well later he also adopted it. The British Empire adopted it in 1752 and Sweden in 1753. The Julian calendar was adopted in Russia until 1917. After the Russian Revolution, the Gregorian calendar was formed there, while in Greece the Julian calendar continued until 1923. The Gregorian calendar was adopted in India itself in 1752.

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Leap year calculation

Although the year that divides by 4 is a leap year, but in the centenary years like 1600,1700,1800 both 4 and 400 will be considered as leap year. For example, in 1600, 400 is covered, but not in 1700 and 1800, otherwise these two century years will not be considered as leap year.

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What other calendars are there?

Most Muslims follow the Hijri calendar. The Hijri calendar consists of 354 days in a year. The official calendar of India is the Saka calendar which was adopted on 22 March 1957. Its first month is Chaitra and there are 365 days in a year. The Persian calendar is used in Iran and Afghanistan.

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