New Year's is a holiday celebrated around the world in various fashions. Most people tend to celebrate on January 1st of the Gregorian calendar, however today and throughout history this is not always the case. The new year has been celebrated by the first day of the calendar, the month, and even season. Some celebrations last one day, while others can last an entire month! Many of these celebrations include making a resolution, which is a promise to yourself at the beginning of the New Year celebration, with its end date being the last day before the next celebration. It can be to stop bad habits, or to begin good habits. Sometimes the resolution can be to make it to a certain point in life, money, or love. With Pruitt (2015) stating that 45% of Americans make these resolutions, we have to wonder where they began.

The first recorded New Year's celebration was the Babylonians 12-day religious festival, also called Atiku, which began in mid-March when crops were planted. Pruitt (2015) and Pappas & Geggel (2017) explain that during the festival a new kind was crowned, or the people would reaffirm their loyalty to the current king. During this time they would also make promises to the gods. Pruitt (2015) mentions that these promises usually included paying off debts and returning borrowed items. It must have seemed like Saturnalia, a Roman festival held in December that included gift-giving, when your neighbors started bringing back hedge clippers and gas cans!

The Romans not only had Saturnalia, they had many festivals to dedicated to their many gods and goddesses. The first kind of Rome, Romulus, made the Roman calendar. It consisted of 10 months and started in March, a month dedicated to their war god Mars. During March, the Romans would celebrate the new year by holding festivals honoring Mars. During these celebrations magistrates from the prior year would affirm their duties, new magistrates would be sworn in, and city leaders and soldiers would swear an oath of loyalty to the current empire. (Pappas & Geggel, 2017) After the Roman calendar was created there were slight changes made over time until the Republic calendar was created, which added January and February. When Julius Caesar took his position the calendar was reformatted and called the Julien Calendar, which happened around 45 BCE. Pappas & Geggel (2017) state that it was not until 300 CE that new year celebrations started occurring on January 1st. When the current new year began to be considered the new year, celebrations were held to honor Janus. Janus was the god of change and beginnings, who inhabited arches and doorways while looking back at the previous year and forward into the future. During the celebrations people would make offerings to Janus, share presents with friends and family, and would work part of the day to avoid starting the year in idleness. (Andrew, 2012) Looking at their artwork, architecture, and coins you can see the importance Janus held in their lives.

The Egyptians also had a new year that did not begin January 1st called Wepet Renpet, or "opener of the year." Its time was marked by the return of Sirius, the brightest star that would disappear for roughly 70 days. (Holloway, 2013) During this time they would celebrate the rebirth and rejuvenation of themselves and the land. They would hold festivals, which included one dedicated to drunkenness. This "Festival of Drunkenness" would celebrate Ra's victory over Sekhemet, the Egyptian war goddess. Andrew (2012) explains that she had wanted to destroy the entire world and every human in it, but Ra had tricked her into drinking until she was unconscious.

There is a new year celebration over 3,000 years old, the Chinese New Year, that is still practiced in the same way as the past. This holiday is based around a lunar calendar causing it to occur in late January to February, due to taking place on the second new moon after the Winter Solstice. (Holloway, 2013) Each year is marked one of the following animals; rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, or pig. This year's celebration was February 5th and is considered the Year of the Pig. The celebrations include lion and dragon dances, many red decorations for luck, and fireworks. All of these things symbolize Nien's attempt to destroy of villages during the new year and the people's use of the color red, loud noise, and fire to successfully scare the "bloodthirsty monster" away. (Holloway, 2013)