Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Times Square in New York City where I was able to see the famous “ball of Times Square.” It was there, lit up, and ready for the widely known celebration on New Year’s Eve. One million are expected to travel to Times Square to welcome the New Year. Another one billion will watch the dropping of the ball on TV as they welcome in the New Year in their own home and cities (Mark Johanson, “New Years Eve By The Numbers,” The International Business Times at IBTimes.com, December 31, 2012).
Should we be partaking in these celebrations to “bring in the New Year?”
Is New Year’s Eve the beginning of the year? On the calendar, we start the year over with a new month, January, and add one to the past year—2014 becomes 2015. That is, according to the commonly used Gregorian calendar. However, this calendar has not always been in use. While the Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, the previous Julian calendar was used in much of the world. New Year’s Day was moved to several different days depending on the locale, such as March 1, March 25, Easter, September 1 and December 25. As late as 1751, the New Year in the United States was celebrated on March 25 (“Calendar (New Style) Act 1750,” at Legislation.gov.uk).
With all this changing of dates, do we really know when the new year actually begins?