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One of the earliest New Year celebrations took place in Mesopotamia, around 2000 B.C. It was celebrated with the occurrence of the first New moon in the month of spring. This usually fell around the middle of March. The Persians and Egyptians began their New Year with the Equinox and the Greeks used to celebrate it with the winter solstice. The first Roman calendar marked the 1st of March as the New Year. This calendar had just 10 months starting from March.
It was around 150 B.C. that the month of January got added to the Roman calendar. The New Year was moved from March to January though was not followed that strictly. In some parts it still continued to be celebrated in March. With time, the Roman calendar, which was based on lunar system, became highly inaccurate and undependable.
It was Julius Caesar who introduced a new calendar based on the solar cycle. An enormous improvement took place in the ancient Roman calendar. Julius Caesar declared January 1st as the official New Year and insisted that within the Roman Empire it should be followed that way. His calendar is popularly known as the Julian calendar.
During the Dark ages, this practice was abolished in Europe as the Church found this New Year and the celebrations that accompanied, to be non-Christian and mock. However, it was not long before this practice was adopted again. This happened with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar around 1580. New Year was again restored to 1st January and is followed till date.
