Every year after Christmas, there comes New Year’s Day – the first day of the first month has always been celebrated, or for as long as we know that it has been.
Although almost everyone in the world celebrates the new year on the first day of the first month, January 1st, many cultures celebrate the new year on other days. The reason for this is that many cultures use different calendars. There are calendars based on start of spring, end or middle of fall, lunar year, or solar year.
For instance, in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the civil New Year falls on Gregorian January 14 which would be January 1 in the Julian calendar.
The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, occurs every year on the new moon of the first lunar month, which can fall anytime between January 21 and February 21 of the Gregorian Calendar.
The Iranian New Year, called Nowruz, is the day containing the exact moment of the vernal equinox, which usually occurs on the 20th or 21st of March, commencing the start of the spring season.
Well, these are just some examples. There are “New Years” all year round!
Now you know that there are other new years out there and I hope you can spread the spirit of New Year’s all year long, whether it’s the start of spring, the harvest of fall or the twelfth full of moon.
On behalf of YouthAreAwesome.com, I wish all you out there a Happy New Year!
