New Year 2024

 

New Year 2024 Celebrations

New Year festival observations impact social, religious, cultural events worldwide and celebrate the beginning of the new year in 2024.  New Years Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on January 1 of each year marked by fireworks, parties and special events which are televised.  Many Americans plan to make New Year's resolutions which are promised to themselves that they will improve something in their life. Americans are planning to save more money in 2024 where in previous years people planned to eat healthier, exercise regularly and lose weight as top priorities.  Now financial goals have been commonly cited of great significance as more consumers want to prioritize expenses saving more money for future goals in 2024. The world prepares to ring in the New Year 2024 as more than one billion people are expected to tune in to watch the glowing orb drop down a pole in New York Time Square precisely at Midnight.

The traditions go back for more than a century featuring star performances, practical challenges and quirky costumes for hundreds of thousands of relievers packed into Time Square.” says Time    Historically the earliest known record of the New Year festival dates back to 2000 BCE in Mesopotamia where in Babylonia the New Year Akitu began with the new moon after the spring equinox in mid March and in Assyria with the new moon nearest the autumn equinox September 21 and for early Greeks it began with the winter solstice December 21.  On the Roman republic calendar the Year began on March 1 but after 153 BCE the official date was January 1 which continued in the Julian Calendar of 46 BCE. In early Medieval times most of Christian Europe considered March 25 the Feast of Annunciation as the beginning of the New Year although New Years Day was observed December 25 in Anglo Saxon England.  William the Conqueror declared the day to begin January 1 but later England joined the rest of Christendom and adopted March 25. 

The Gregorian calendar adopted in 1582 by the Roman Catholic Church restored January 1 as the New Year's Day as most European countries gradually followed suit including Scotland in 1660, Denmark and Germany in 1700, England in 1752 and Russia in 1918. Those religious cultures using the Lunar calendar, a dating system, continued to observe the beginning of the New Year on days other than January first. According to Time, variations of calendars tend to tie their own New Year celebrations with other significant events whether religious, astronomical, or agriculture.  Mesopotamia’s akitu is also considered with the harvest of barley. The Gregorian calendar has now been widely adopted as the international standard civil calendar for governments and businesses. The modern day Gregorian calendar is used in most parts of the world today.  It was introduced by Pope Gregory Xlll in October 1852 as the modification and replacement for the Jullian Caesar calendar. 

The Jullian calendar was introduced by the Roman Empire in 46 BC when Julius Caesar ordered a new calendar to be developed under one calendar to better follow the solar year.  The Gregorian calendar shortened the average calendar year by 0.0075 days to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes.  The Gregorian calendar is used in most parts of the world today and is connected to astronomy and agriculture.   When the ball drops in Time Square in New York USA most of the world's population of 8,118,836,000 will usher in the New Year celebrating the event with enthusiasm anticipating good things will happen in 2024.

Cheers!

Patricia Lynn

Images Courtesy of Rorygezfresh photos at AdobeStock