Some New Year trivia for you, just for fun...
On our calendar, (the Gregorian calendar - devised by Pope Gregory XIII when he refined the calculation of Leap Years back in 1582), New Year's Day is the 1st of January.
But before the Gregorian calendar, our ancestors used the Julian calendar which celebrated New Year on 25 March or Lady Day. There are still traces of this in our calendar in the names of the last four months of the year...
- September - from the Latin, Septem for seven
- October - Octo for eight
- November - Novem for nine &
- December - Decem for ten.
Anyway, back to New Year itself... there are other calendars around the world which celebrate the start of the year on different dates!
Here are a few examples... New Year is -
: in late January to late February in the Chinese and Vietnamese calendars
: in mid-April in the Cambodian, Sri Lankan, Thai and Hindu calendars
: around the spring Equinox in March for the Iranian calendar.
: and then there's the "Old New Year" which is celebrated on 13 January in the Russian calendar.
Wherever you are and, whenever or however you celebrate, I hope the your New Year brings you health and happiness!
