New Year in Antigua and Barbuda
Is New Year in Antigua and Barbdua different
When is New Year's Day?
New Year's Day is the Gregorian calendar's first day of the year. It occurs precisely one week after Christmas Day of the previous year. New Year's Day is a public holiday in all countries that follow the Gregorian calendar, except for Israel. Therefore, it is the most widely observed public holiday worldwide. Some countries also have an additional New Year holiday on January 2. However, governments still use the Julian Calendar to celebrate New Year's Day on January 14. People celebrate with firework displays at midnight in their local time zones on this day.
History of New Year's Day
Celebrating the first day of the new year on January 1 is relatively modern. With the establishment of the Roman Republic in 509 BC, supreme power was held by two consuls elected annually. In 222 BC, they began their term on March 15 (the Ides of March). In 153 BC, the consuls started assuming power on January 1 (the Kalends of January), which began the consular or civil year and the calendar year.
When January and February were added to the calendar to clean it up, they were added to the year's end. The month was named Janus after the Roman god of doors and gates, who had two faces, one looking forward and one backward, which was a fitting name for the month at the start of the year.
However, the traditional springtime opening of the growing season and the time for military campaigns were still observed as the famous New Year celebration. During the Middle Ages, various Christian feast dates were used to mark the New Year, but calendars continued to display the months in columns running from January to December in the Roman stle.
In the 11th century, William the Conqueror declared January the official start of the year in England, but it was only widely followed in the Royal Court. For some parts of Europe, New Year's Day was determined by Easter, meaning a different date yearly.
It wasn't until 1582 that the Roman Catholic Church officially adopted January 1 as the New Year. Most Western European countries had already adopted January 1 as New Year's Day even before adopting the Gregorian calendar.
Great Britain and the English colonies in America continued to begin the year on March 25, following the old Julian calendar after breaking with the Roman Catholic Church. It wasn't until 1752 that Britain and its possessions adopted the New Style (Gregorian) calendar and accepted January 1 as the beginning of the year.
New Year's Resolutions
It is common for many people to make New Year's resolutions to start fresh. According to a survey conducted by ComRes, the most common resolutions for the New Year include exercising more (38%), losing weight (33%), and eating healthier (32%). The tradition of making resolutions on New Year's Day dates back 4,000 years to ancient Babylonians. However, unlike today, their year began in mid-March on the first moon after the spring equinox. Historians suggest that the top resolutions for Babylonians were to return borrowed items to neighbours and to pay off debts.
