Happy New Year!! Celebrated first in New Zealand

The fireworks began after a 10-second countdown at the Sky Tower. It lasted 5 minutes. Preparations were being made for this for 6 months. There was a possibility of bad weather here. However, people celebrated New Year amid heavy rain alert.

As soon as the clock strikes 12 midnight on 31st December, the whole world welcomes the New Year, but have you ever wondered why the year starts on 1st January? The reason for this is considered to be the dictator of the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar.

Caesar had made changes in the calendar 2066 years ago to teach a lesson to corrupt leaders. After this the whole world started celebrating New Year on 1 January.

After all, why is the New Year celebrated only on January 1?
It was 2637 years ago i.e. 673 BC. There used to be a king named Numa Pompilus in Rome. Pompilus decided to make changes to the Roman calendar during his reign. Pompilus decided to celebrate the New Year in January instead of March. Earlier, New Year was celebrated in Rome, but it started on March 25.

Numa Pompilus argued that the month of January was named after Janus, the Roman god of new beginnings. At the same time, the month of March is named after Mars, the god of wars in Rome. That is why the new year should also start in January instead of March.

The calendar issued by Numa Pompilus contained 310 days and only 10 months in a year. At that time there were 8 days in a week. Although the New Year was celebrated in January 2175 years ago i.e. till 153 BC, it was not officially announced.

In 607, Numa Pompilus overthrew the monarchy in Rome. After this, the entire responsibility of running the empire came to the Roman Republic. After being in power for a few years, the leaders of the Republic started becoming corrupt. Taking advantage of the turmoil in the Roman Empire, Roman Army General Julius Caesar took the entire command in his hands.

After this he started teaching a lesson to the leaders. In fact, the leaders of the Republic started making changes in the calendar as per their wish in order to remain in power for a longer period and to rig the elections. He would sometimes increase and sometimes decrease the days in the calendar as per his wish.

To find a solution to this, Julius Caesar changed the calendar. About 2066 years ago, in 46 BC, Roman Empire dictator Julius Caesar issued a new calendar.

Astronomers told Julius Caesar that the Earth takes 365 days and 6 hours to revolve around the Sun. After this Caesar increased the Roman calendar from 310 days to 365 days. Also, Caesar decided to make the month of February 29 days, so that the increase of one day every 4 years could be adjusted. Next year i.e. from 45 BC, New Year started being celebrated on 1 January.

Here comes another new calendar
Later, when the calculations were done again, it was found that there was some flaw in the calculation of time in Julius Caesar's Julian calendar. According to the Julian calendar, a year was of 365 days and 6 hours, but when calculations were done, it was found that a year was of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds.

Pope Gregory of the Roman Church began work on it in the 1580s. This calendar was named Gregorian calendar. In this also the new year started from 1st January.

Britain introduced Gregorian calendar in India 271 years ago
Britain's Pope refused to accept the Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar was first adopted by Italy, France, Spain and Portugal in 1582. Germany, Switzerland, and Holland adopted it in 1583, Poland in 1586, and Hungary in 1587.

Till 1752, the New Year started on March 25 in Britain. In 1752, it was agreed in the Parliament of England that Britain would also have to follow the rest of the European countries in the matter of starting the New Year. After this, Britain also adopted this calendar on 2 September 1752. On the same day, Britain implemented that calendar in India also. At that time India was under British occupation. China adopted this calendar in 1912, Russia in 1917 and Japan in 1972.