The New Year is the time or day at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar's year count increments by one. Many cultures celebrate the event in some manner. In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system today, New Year occurs on January 1 (New Year's Day, preceded by New Year's Eve). This was also the first day of the year in the original Julian calendar and the Roman calendar (after 153 BC). Other cultures begin their traditional or religious year according to their own customs – typically (though not invariably) because they use a lunar calendar or a lunisolar calendar: the lunisolar Chinese calendar (and its variants), the lunar Islamic calendar and the lunisolar Hebrew calendar are among well-known examples. The Iranian calendar begins the year at the March equinox; the Ethiopian calendar begins in (Gregorian) September. India has many traditional calendars with a matching variety of first days. There are many more traditional calendars with associated start days: these are listed below. During the Middle Ages in Western Europe, while the Julian calendar was still in use, authorities moved New Year's Day, depending upon locale, to one of several other days, including March 1, March 25, Easter, September 1, and December 25. Since then, many national civil calendars in the Western World and beyond have changed to using one fixed date for New Year's Day, January 1—most doing so when they adopted the Gregorian calendar.
By type Based on the used calendar new years are often categorized between lunar or lunisolar new years or solar new years.
By month or season
January
January 1: The first day of the civil year in the Gregorian calendar used by most countries. Contrary to common belief in the west, the civil New Year of January 1 is not an Orthodox Christian religious holiday. The Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar makes no provision for the observance of a New Year. January 1 is itself a religious holiday, but that is because it is the feast of the Circumcision of Jesus (seven days after his birth), and a commemoration of saints. While the liturgical calendar begins September 1, there is also no particular religious observance attached to the start of the new cycle. Orthodox nations may, however, make civil celebrations for the New Year. Those who adhere to the revised Julian calendar (which synchronizes dates with the Gregorian calendar), including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Romania, Syria, Turkey and Ukraine, observe both the religious and civil holidays on January 1. In other nations and locations where Orthodox churches still adhere to the Julian calendar, including Georgia, Israel, Russia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Russian-occupied Ukraine, the civil new year is observed on January 1 of the civil calendar, while those same religious feasts occur on January 14 Gregorian (which is January 1 Julian), in accord with the liturgical calendar. The Japanese New Year (正月, Shōgatsu) is currently celebrated on January 1, with the holiday usually being observed until January 3, while other sources say that Shōgatsu lasts until January 6. In 1873, five years after the Meiji Restoration, Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar. Prior to 1873, Japan used a lunar calendar with twelve months each of 29 or 30 days for a total year of about 354 days. The Sámi celebrated Ođđajagemánnu.
Winter lunisolar new years
Lunisolar calendars count months according to lunations but, because there are not an even number of lunar cycles in a solar year, the calendar must be restarted annually on the first, second or even third new moon after the winter solstice. (The term "lunar calendar" is often used of lunisolar calendars, but true lunar calendars (such as the Islamic calendar) count only lunations and ignore the solar seasons.)
The Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, occurs every year on the new moon of the first lunar month, about the beginning of spring (Lichun). The exact date can fall any time between January 21 and February 21 (inclusive) of the Gregorian Calendar. Traditionally, years were marked by one of twelve Earthly Branches, represented by an animal, and one of ten Heavenly Stems, which correspond to the five elements. This combination cycles every 60 years. It is the most important Chinese celebration of the year. The Korean New Year is a Seollal or Lunar New Year's Day. Although January 1 is, in fact, the first day of the year, Seollal, the first day of the lunar calendar, is more meaningful for Koreans. A celebration of the Lunar New Year is believed to have started to let in good luck and ward off bad spirits all throughout the year. With the old year out and a new one in, people gather at home and sit around with their families and relatives, catching up on what they have been doing. The Vietnamese New Year is the Tết Nguyên Đán which most times is the same day as the Chinese New Year due to the Vietnamese using a lunisolar calendar similar to the Chinese calendar. The Tibetan New Year is Losar and falls between January and March. The Taiwanese New Year is called Kuè-nî and falls between January and March.
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