Some New Years' History

Here's a piece of an interesting article found on canada.com titled "New Year's traditions hail from the depths of antiquity" by Randy Shore:

If your head really hurts on New Year's Day, you could point your finger at the Babylonians who started this new year revelry nonsense. Though the ancient Romans added the idea of alcoholic excess, or at least perfected it.

Julius Caesar fixed the start of the year on Jan. 1 by letting the previous year run to 445 days rather than the traditional 365. The Roman citizenry made their winter festival Saturnalia a celebration without rules. So, let's blame the Romans.

Any way you slice it, New Year's is among the very oldest and most persistent of human celebrations.

The western world celebrates the new year on Jan. 1 in the early weeks of winter, which is about as sensible as a wooden fireplace. For some thousands of years before Julie and the Roman Senate got involved, the new year was celebrated with the first edible crops of the season or the first new moon.

In much of India, Nava Varsha is celebrated in March or April, just as in the most ancient civilizations.

Sikhs celebrate Hola Mohalla in March; ditto for Persian Nowruz.

As celebrated in China and Southeast Asia, Lunar New Year still has a floating date, the first day of the first lunar month.

That brand of rhythm with the earth and moon stuff is just a little too hocus-pocus for the stiffs that run the western world. We like fixed dates, Gaia be damned.

For the rest of the article, here's the link: http://www.canada.com/life/Year+traditions+hail+from+depths+antiquity/1126441/story.html